Six-guns and Slay Bells -- Story 10

Snake Oil

You’ve heard of them. Sheriffs who rule the roost by reputation. Let their deputy do all the work, but can’t seem to make it with the only good-looking widow in town. You’ve heard of them. Well, Wes Runyon’s one of them.

Seems Wes Runyon’s got a pet peeve or two. One of them is Christmas. Another is kids. But damn it, bells tinkled and kids laughed, and that pissed Runyon off. Royally.

The first time he heard the bells and the laughter, he thought it was Christmas, but he was only dreaming, and autumn had hardly begun to fall. He sighed with relief, but then the bells come again, and the laughter come again, and Runyon grabbed his gun.

The culprit was Professor Thaddeus G. Saxpuddle, phrenologist and pharmacological physician, mesmerist, chiropodist, oculist, inventor, and sole legal purveyor of Saxpuddle’s Snake Oil Embrocation and Saxpuddle’s All Purpose Elixir.

To make a long story short, Saxpuddle hoodwinks the entire town, including the sheriff, which has results no one figured on. But that’s some of the good parts of the story and I shouldn’t talk about them so you’ll have to get the book and read the story for yourself. Well, maybe I can tell you this. The sheriff got his revenge. Or did he?

CLAY MORE lives in England within arrow-shot of the ruins of a medieval castle. He is a part time doctor and writes medical books, general non-fiction books, crime novels, historical crime and westerns for Robert Hale.