As Mike struggled to pull himself together, and say something coherent, his body was suddenly jerked upright from behind. Marti watched, wide eyed, as...the man she had met earlier in the bar, lifted Mike practically into the air by his shirt collar. Spinning on his heel, the bartender half dragged, half carried Mike to the doors of the motel. Although what he whispered in Mike’s ear shortly before shoving him through the door was too low for anyone else to catch, the intent was obvious to. They switched guns when they ran out of ammunition in the first pistol, so they had passed completely through the Indian band without running out of available shots.All of the Indians on horseback had been killed or wounded, so there was no chance of having to face a second charge. Five Indians, all badly wounded, were all that were left alive. John ordered a halt for reloading. He thought for a moment, and said, "Boys, killing them bastards outright is too good fer them. I got a better idee.". ‘Who’s my dirty boy?’ she asked, kissing the top of my head. ‘Hmm? Who’s my perverted nasty boy? Who loves his dirty wife?’ ‘Me,’ I whispered, ‘you know it’s me.’ Our conversations hadn’t always been this way. There had been months, at the beginning, when they were filled with recrimination and anger, hostility and resentment and jealousy. The jealousy lingers, of course, and she makes certain that my shame remains sharp and intact, honing it like a fine blade, maintaining the edge with her. As I got up I said, I guess I know how you feel about this.The following week at work I was going to tell Roger I would go to dinner with him when shit the fan. We were getting to a critical milestone and Roger needed to make a presentation to the company’s top leadership. I had a couple of large packages for him at my desk from the delivery service but one seemed crushed and the delivery guy had said how his truck was rear-ended that morning. I let Roger know what that guy said and Roger.