The Dark Fellows
Chapter 7
The Dead Trail
Rance Spurgeon ran back home to his mama! He wanted to be DONE WITH THAT! He had seen a man FLY HOME! and now he was back in Chicago with new clothes, no cane and his mama's old shipping company still a-float he hoped! He had to find them down by the dock's or else it'd be just as if he left it at that! He had no idea Ol' Harry Townsend could fly before! He knew the whole story the way the Devil'd told it to them! It was obvious! Man back from the dead, holy trophy, needed to go get that thing and finish them off! But Harry was the hero and Old Rance Spurgeon a tiny little splutterin' man on the revenge kick he needed to go find his mama! It was a worst day ever kind of thing! He feeled around for the door at night on his mama's doorstep and she almost shoved him out of the doorway to get at that boy she loved! "RANCE! YOU'RE HOME HONEY! HOW ARE YOU!? I'VE MISSED YOU SO MUCH YOU KNOW!" Rance loved his mommy! He hugged her back and it felt real good! That's why he didn't come home! He said, "I've missed you too mummy!" and BANG! Both lie on the ground DEADER THAN THAT! The end.
So it kept coming to them! They'd had dinner of mincemeat pie and talked about his brother's hauling stuff up and down the pier all day everyday since he left and could he get them a job at the Pinkerton agency or what!? He told them everything! "WHAT A MAN!" and his brother Klayton James Spurgeon slapped him on the back real hard! Dingbat pumped at his elbows and told him all about it! "Like I wouldn't rather a job doing THAT than hauling this thing around dingbat!" Rance spurgeoned him back a few times on the shoulders but it wasn't like that! He didn't care if they lived or died! Not like that. He seemed tenseful to say the least! "WELL LOOKEE HERE BOY'S! Like I'm in trouble or something!" Hoo-wee-oot's came from the Spurgeon family! Rance saw his dread aflared and asked Harry, "Would you like some dinner?" The man obliged! They had eggsalad porridge for dessert and longfully gazed into the fireplace stuffed! It was a good night! Rance was angry at Harry, and Harry was no human about it! "Aw, shucks! Couldn't fly here fast enough! Like I coulda got here sooner, but I didn't! Interrupt anything!? Hahahahaha!" He laughed long into the night! It was scary. A devilman cometh and taketh away his supper! His family knowed it too and weren't normal now! Everything was tainted and fading away. The Dark Tower lay in the distance! They rubbed their bellies at the same time! "'Least the devil left me with a bone to pick at supper!" Harry laughed it off! He didn't feel well at all! Exploding at the gill's to get home, he flew off and let Spurgeon know how he was rankled! "And if you ever do that again, try me!" He flew off really high and let the ground wallop him back home! He wasn't really a man anymore, some kind of angel-man to do it that way! But if Old Spurgeon ever really did die, he would be dead, too! The Devil made that clear in the promise! So the two were friend's again! Rance got to kill Ol' Townsend, and Ol' Townsend got to ruffle Rance around the porridgers! But neither gained enmity for it! What was money now, though? Rance had shown his mother the gold gun's he stole off Max Reinfeld and left it at that! Dropping them to the floor, he went to his room which was always there for him and slept! The darkness was a grim reminder of his mortality! "Rance, wake up! It's time to go now!" Rance was left off flying dead high above the water! Harry carried him, he knew it in his bellyfull of anger! He wanted to fly, too! And to punch Harry where he stood! Harry giggled a bit and dropped Rance off in the water! A short way's, an island sought there lit up to Rance in darkness blood! "Go for it, pardner!" Harry had admonished him before he fled away in the sky! "Aw, shucks! You fool! You sodden fool oaf! What if I were to die here!?" "Just as I said, pardner! I'm all washed up if you die ever! Be at peace here on this island forever! I'll bring you food occasionally, maybe if I feel like it! Your life is mine! Together, we ride into the Devil's gates and tear him asunder later! Capiche? You in my man?" Rance had said "Forget it!" like a foul child all washed up! Here, he was not able to stifle Harry Townsend's plans and no-one else could, ever! Harry and the rest of the Devil's Own had powers so special they might be God himself tumbling downa round the world! Angel call's quieted the memories of the people! No one could remember or do what they did not want!