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“So, I hear you’re Justice’s new deputy?”
Owen's question was simple, straightforward, and meant to make the young man feel more comfortable around Sandrock. Yet it did nothing of the sort. Instead of answering, the young man stared, eyes widening as his entire body tensed up.
“Not someone of many words?” Owen asked.
The young man tugged at his Civil Corps sleeve, his eyes darting down to the counter while shaking his head. There was a nervousness about the young man, one that Owen couldn ’t place his finger on, as if perhaps he were hiding something that he didn’t want the people in Sandirock to know about, although the worst one could do in regards to messing up was probably falling in with Logan’s crew.
Owen paused, wondering if he were letting his imagination get the better of him. He ’d mistakenly thought that Justice of all people had managed somehow to find one of the members of Logan’s gang and, by chance, turn them around and turn them into his little lackey. Which, for all intents and purposes, was definitely something that Justice would, in fact, do, yet he couldn’t help but feel a bit off-put regarding that particular thought, given his history with Logan.
“I—um,” the young man said, still focusing on the counter, before looking up at Owen and very straight-faced said, “I like rocks.”
“Do you now? Do you like moving to a town named after rocks?” Owen asked. That voice in the back of his head said he’d probably said the most worst thing he could say to the young man, while another part thought those eyes seemed somehow—familiar, for some odd reason.
But then came that spark, that smile, and the young man said with a very straight face. “Oh. Yes. I like living in a town named after rocks.”
To which Owen decided Justice ’s deputy was likely the worst conversationalist he’d ever come across, and not because the kid in front of him was trying to avoid conversation but because it was rather apparent that he did want to fit in despite what Owen thought of as some somewhat confounding interests, to the point he found himself rather worried about the kid and his prospects here in a town named after what was ever so obviously the young man’s favorite thing in the world.
“I like sand as well. So the town’s named after two things I like.”
“Well, we’ve got lots of that as well.”
“And manure.”
To which Owen stared. “Manure?”
“I’ve heard you can make fertilizer with it. And other great things.”
Owen wasn ’t sure he wanted to know what those other things were, particularly given his suspicions regarding Logan and the young man in front of him.
“It’s pretty cool. They’re all pretty cool.”
“Suggestion?” Owen asked, unsure of how his advice would be taken.
“Um. I,” Unsuur frowned. “Did I do something wrong?”
“You’re acting like you think you’re in trouble,” Owen said.
“Aren’t I?”
“You’re not in trouble with me,” Owen said, continuing to smile, hoping he might win the young man over to the idea that he wasn’t out to bite him figuratively. “Just, most folks aren’t going to want to talk about manure, see? So maybe just leave it to the rocks and the sand?”
“Oh. Sorry,” the young man said, staring awkwardly at the to-go before pointing out what he wanted off the menu rather than verbalizing it, escaping out the great blue yonder that was outside.
Owen sighed, unsure of what to think; beyond thinking, he ’d ask Justice about it instead of focusing on cleaning up around the counter. His hand brushed up against an old photo album of his pa’s that he pulled out, flipping it open. He heard the door of the saloon’s door open, choosing to ignore the person until they headed towards a seat or stepped over to the counter. “You never did tell me how things turned out between you and your ma.”
Owen glanced up, frowning, snapping the photo album shut, not liking what he was thinking in those moments, yet there had been something familiar. “What is there to tell?”
“I mean, I did find out where she moved off to so you could write to her that your pa had died. I mean, she ought to know, right?”
“She wasn’t too thrilled about finding out, to be honest,” Owen said.
“So you did hear from her? And what about Jessie?”
Owen paused, trying to change the subject. “That’s a rather strange new deputy you’ve got yourself.”
“So you’ve met Unsuur.”
“Unsuur. That’s a rather odd name.” Owen was definitely unsure about the name.
“I guess,” Justice said.
“Do you know what he did before coming here?”
“Not a clue,” Justice said. “Though if he did tell me, it’s not really any of my business to say, is it?” Justice let out a laugh. “And what about your ma?”
“That was a few years ago. You know.”
“But you got a response back, right?” Justice asked.
“Did I?” Owen let an eyebrow go up.
“Ya said your ma was mad at ya for writing her, right?”
Owen set the photo album down. “She was right livid in her letter, blaming me for Jessie taking off on her.”
“He did?”
“So she says.”
“Why would he do that now?”
“I don’t right know why because I can’t exactly ask him as I don’t know where he is, do I?”
“What your ma say about it, though?”
“You mean why she said he ran away? It was my letter letting them know pa had passed that did it, but that if I were to ever see Jessie in these here parts, I was to let her know and send him right home on the train.”
“Are you going to do that?”
Owen let out a snort. “If she wants to find my kid brother here, then she can very well take the time to return here to this what she called a no-prospect town. Not that I think I’d recognize him after all this time. He was a mere tot when I saw him last.”
“Well, that’s good to hear.”
“I guess,” Owen said, narrowing his eyes, knowing there might be something Justice wasn’t telling him. “That kid of yours.”
“You mean my new deputy?”
Owen lowered his voice even though there was nobody else around. “He wouldn’t happen to be, you know, somehow affiliated with Logan?”
“Now, why would you think that?”
“Because he was talking about the uses of manure,” Owen said.
Justice stared, smiling and not moving an inch. But then he said, “He did what now?”
“And you know what Logan did.”
“Blew up a building. I know,” Justice said. “I’ll have a word with him. He is, I admit, a bit odd.”
“He likes the fact the town is named after his two favorite things.”
“You mean rocks and sand?” Justice startled. “You actually got that much from him?”
“You actually don’t know anything about him?” Owen said.
“I didn’t say that,” Justice said. “Just, more of that, he’s not really the talkative type. He’s rather shy.”
“I noticed.”
“Rocks, huh?”
“And sand,” Owen said.
“My. That wasn’t at all expected,” Justice said, letting out a laugh. “Good to know.”
“That he likes rocks and sand, or that if he talks to people in town, it’s going to be about rocks and sand?”
“Both, to be honest,” Justice said, letting out a hearty laugh. “He’s a good kid, Owen. He just needs a chance.”
“You don’t think I’ll give it to him?”
“Nah. He’s just a bit cautious, you might say, but if it seems like he’s not opening up to you like most people do, it’s no fault of your own. He’s just—well, that’s the way the kid is.”
“I’ll definitely keep that in mind.”