A Spoke in the Wheel

I shouldn’t be here, he thought. It wasn’t supposed to last this long. Daniel shuffled toward the door of the saloon, drawing as little attention to himself as possible. The dust prickling his bare ankles—darn the pants he had borrowed—told him he had reached the door, and he pushed on it with his back.

It didn’t open. He turned his head half to the side, but before he could see anything, something pushed him forward. He hadn’t even straightened up when a hand came down on his collar and he felt himself being dragged outside.

“Now listen here, you stinkin’ flannel-mouthed four-flusher!” You come in here with yer potions ‘n got our women all fussed and now—LOOK AT MY HEAD!” The cowboy Daniel only knew as “Big Jim” took off his hat, revealing a mass of messy, bright pink hair. “Show ‘im, boys!” he bellowed.

The other cowboys reluctantly removed their hats, showing off their own multi-colored hair. “She said it would make me more excitin’” a short, mousy cowboy in the back muttered.

“Somebody’s gotta fix this,” Big Jim said, “or pay for it.” The hats went back on and Daniel heard guns sliding out of holsters.

“Now wait just a minute,” came a voice from behind them, and Daniel saw a man coming toward them—the star pinned to the man’s chest told him it must be the sheriff.

“Y’all can’t just take this man’s fate in yer hands,” he said. “That’s my job.” The sheriff took off his hat and a bright shock of green caught the light of the moon. Daniel winced.

“He’s as much our business as he is yers,” said Big Jim, “and I’ll prove it.” Big Jim raised his gun at Daniel’s head.

“Don’t be stupid about this, Jim,” the sheriff said, pulling out a rifle. “I’ll take him and lock him up where liars belong.”

Daniel heard a clicking sound in his left ear and closed his eyes. “Little late fer that,” Big Jim snarled. The three men—the sheriff, Daniel, and Big Jim—stood in the middle of the street, and Daniel did not enjoy the odds of being in the middle.

Suddenly, a loud pop came from midair, and everyone flinched. “Oh snap!” Daniel yelled.

When the men looked back up, Big Jim and the sheriff were looking at the barrels of each other’s guns, and both quickly put them away.

“What in tarnation?”

“I don’t know, Jim. Must have been some magician’s trick. Liars and illusionists, that’s all they are anyway.”

“But Sheriff,” Big Jim said with the edge of a whine in his voice, “What about my hair?”