BIG John Oakes, called Big because bigness was a quality of his nature—and the lack of it, of his physique—was asleep, grotesquely doubled up on the antique couch of his living room, a vast depression in the center of which made any graceful disposition of one’s person on it impossible.
He awoke when the outside door opened, with a swift, instinctive reach toward his hip; but his revolver was in the gun belt flung across the back of a chair at his side. The sheriff grinned as Slim Mason playfully covered him with his own six-shooter and drawled, “I reckon the drop’s on you, Sheriff.” He added, “Didn’t know you was partial to the festive siesty.”
“Been chasing all over Arizony for that pirate, Grady,” explained the sheriff. “And the seas on the desert sure plays tarnation with a man. My pasear didn’t ree-sult in the apprehension of Mr. Grady, I might remark... But what is the occasion for this unexpected and dee-lightful visit?”
The smile left Mason’s face. A look of concern shadowed it.
“Bud Tevis. He’s shootin’ up the Cameo again.” Mason’s drawl was gone. The sheriff was in the midst of an expansive yawn, arms outstretched. His lips closed and whitened tightly.
“Bud Tevis!” His tone was hard. “Again, eh?” Oakes stood up and reached for his gun belt. There was a pause as he slowly buckled it on, adjusting it with unnecessary care in an abstracted way.
“Hasn’t got nobody?”
“No. Rode up to the Cameo a-shootin’ carefree like, and I reckoned I’d saunter down this way and let you know, John.
“Sure seems like Bud is hankerin’ for you to take his irons away from him agin,” Mason added after a while. The sheriff was silent. Two lines at the corners of his mouth deepened.
“Tevis has just been sobered about long enough to get real riled over that,” he commented grimly. Mason pulled the brim of his sombrero thru his fingers reflectively.
この記事は The Strand Magazine の Strand Magazine Issue 48: Unpublished James Thurber, Interviews with Sherlock's Mark Gatiss and Heather Graham: May-June 2016 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は The Strand Magazine の Strand Magazine Issue 48: Unpublished James Thurber, Interviews with Sherlock's Mark Gatiss and Heather Graham: May-June 2016 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
INTERVIEW Laurie R. King
CREATING new works based on an iconic fictional character who’s been around for over a century can be a minefield for an author.
ADVENTURE ON A BAD NIGHT
BEFORE dinner was quite finished Vivien began wanting to get outdoors, into the air she hadn’t seen since afternoon.
THE EDINBURGH BANKERS
“MR. Holmes, I’m not asking for myself. It’s for the livelihood of the rest of us.”
The Adventure of the Home Office Baby
FOLLOWING the occasion of my marriage, and relocation with Mary to our newlywed home in the Paddington district, only a few blocks east of the great station itself, I was able to continue building my new practice while still finding time to assist Sherlock Holmes in a number of investigations.
KEVIN OF THE DEAD
PEOPLE often say to me, “Kevin, what’s it like being undead and all that?” And I say, “It’s a job, you know?” You get up at sunset, brush off the dirt and slugs, climb out of the box, and off you go into the night looking for some poor unfortunate to siphon a pint from.
AUNT NELLIE'S DIARY
MANY contemporary readers know Louisa May Alcott only as the author of the classic Little Women, the much-beloved story of the March sisters’ journey from childhood innocence to mature womanhood.
INTERVIEW John Grisham
FOR the last thirty years, the term legal thriller has been synonymous with John Grisham. Credited with single-handedly popularizing the genre, he has inspired scores of other authors and, in the process, has become both a commercial and critical success.
The Dowser's Discovery
“IF you don’t mind, sir,” said old Fiedler as he finished pouring our coffee, “I’d like to go into the village this morning with the others. It’s market day.”
THE AMIABLE FLEAS
IN May 1954, more than fifteen years after writing Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck rented a house for himself and his family a stones-throw from the Champs-Elysées in Paris.
INTERVIEW Don Winslow
EVER since Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett revolutionized the crime novel with hardboiled heroes, gritty settings, and moral complexity, countless authors have tried to carry the torch.
