Shaking some rust off

[waco_jim]

Jim has decided to head over to the firing range to see if he still has it.  There's an assortment of cardboard cutouts of bandits, Klansmen, Nazi stormtroopers, rapists, and lawyers.  At the center, there are two full color photographs. One of them is a picture of a nefarious mustachioed creep. The other one is of Hedley Lamarr. Most of them have been rigged up mechanically to move from side to side.

He's taken a few shots already.  Right now he's re-loading.

Botherable.

Comments

[not_his_pa]

William's had a better Christmas than he expected and has been doing some work in the stables in between reading some of his new books.

When he hears shots at the firing range, he walks out and smiles, it's good to see another cowboy though he doesn't know what the pictures are of other than the bandits.

[waco_jim]

Jim nods at him. "Evening, kid. I'd stay uprange if I were you. I'm not drunk, but I've had a couple."

[not_his_pa]

"My Pa taught me well enough, I ain't walkin' in front of anyone firin', sir. Who are all those pictures supposed to be of?"

William tips his hat and frowns, drinking and shooting tends to lead to trouble from what he knows.

[waco_jim]

"A bunch of assholes. Led by that guy." He points at the picture of Hedley Lamarr.

Jim has kind of forgotten how to shoot without drinking first, to be honest.

[not_his_pa]

"What'd he do?"

[waco_jim]

"He's a railroad man. Construction hit quicksand, and the quickest way around it is through a wholesome little town. So now he's trying to wipe it off the map. By any means necessary."

[not_his_pa]

"Hell, most of the men from the railroad are almost as bad as the outlaws. Progress ain't worth wreckin' a town. There anythin' you can do?"

[waco_jim]

"There may be a few things," he says. He finishes loading his guns. "Stand back, kid."

If you have a high-speed camera, you might notice a blur of steel and imitation polyester. Jim's Peacemakers ring out like machine gun fire. It's more like a parody of speed than the real thing. Scratch that - it IS a parody of speed.

The targets move forward for inspection. Most of them have bullet holes in them. Four of them don't - including Lester Bangs and Hedley Lamarr.

"Shit," he says.

[not_his_pa]

William stares, he's seen Ben Wade shoot and he's fast but not anyone like that before.

[waco_jim]

"Sorry you had to see that," Jim says. "A few years ago, I would've gotten all of 'em."

[not_his_pa]

"Better than most folks can do, sir,"

William says with a gulp, he knows modern weapons can do a lot but that sort of speed's worrying with a revolver.

[waco_jim]

"Yeah, I'm a little less shitty than I thought I'd be after three years of alcoholism. Still, when they're all aiming guns at you, two out of three ain't good. And Hedley's got the money to pay for a lot of guns. Hell, for all I know, he's got a tank."

[not_his_pa]

"Yeah, but most folks don't shoot that good to start with if their guns fire. Where are you from, sir?"

He's never heard of tanks out West at least in his West.

[waco_jim]

"Rock Ridge. It's a little hamlet on Studio Lot #4 in Burbank."

[not_his_pa]

"I don't think I've heard of any of those places, sir. I'm from outside Bisbee in Arizona Territory."

[waco_jim]

"Think we did some location work in Arizona. I might've passed by around there."

He extends his hand. "Jim. Some folks call me the Waco Kid. I call me Jim."

[not_his_pa]

"William Evans, sir. Why do you get called the Waco Kid?"

William shakes his hand and feels more confused somehow.

[waco_jim]

Jim shrugs. "You got me. I'm not from Waco and didn't earn the nickname 'til I was thirty."

[not_his_pa]

"How do you not know why you're called it?"

[waco_jim]

Jim shrugs again. "Well, when you're famous like I was, little stories and nicknames spring up around you. Eventually it gets so you don't know where they started. I've been around Waco once or twice. Maybe it was for something I did around there.

"In the end, when Mr. Brooks says you have a nickname, that's what your nickname is. That's how it is with us."

[not_his_pa]

"Oh, yeah, that would do it. Do folks write dime novels about you? Does Mr. Brooks lead your gang?"

[waco_jim]

"Not exactly," Jim says. He's begun reloading again. "It's more like...I'm from the dime novel, and Mr. Brooks is the man who wrote it."

[not_his_pa]

William thinks about that sentence and realizes it still doesn't make sense,

"Mr. Brooks is an author?"

[waco_jim]

"In a manner of speaking," Jim says. "He's a filmmaker, though I take it they don't have movies where you're from. The simple way to put it is that I'm a character in a story he wrote."

[not_his_pa]

"When I'm from, sir. I know what movies are but don't have them in my time. That means you're an actor?"

Then William names a year near the end of the 1860s.