The Diary of Jerrod Bently by J.W. Osborn (large ebook reader TXT) 📕

your cake and eat it too.” Nathan glanced over at Fran’s terrified expression and the one of fury on Victoria’s face. “We ain’t done, Doc,” he shouted after him as he made for the door.
Nathan went after him and collared him before he could walk out. A cake smearing , frosting flinging fight ensued as the two men crashed together and to the floor. That was when Old Pede decided to deck the postmaster and when he got up off the floor, a brawl began.
Upon arrival at the church, Jake Titus hearing all the commotion handed the reins of his team over to his wife and jumped down from the buck board. He saw two men smeared with cake and what appeared to be strawberry jam at his feet fighting and too much going on for a quite church social. He shouted for them all to stop, but no one heard. That was when he drew his gun and fired into the air. That stopped the brawling.
“ Alright!”, he shouted “Now that I have your attention. Will one of you tell me what is going on here? This is supposed to be a church social, not a bar room brawl.!”
Doc scrambled to his feet, his black hat across the room, cake and jam in his hair and beard, and a very angry Nathan Travis started to walk away. At first Jake wanted to laugh at the sight of them, but he was in no position to. “Doc?” he said “What the blazes happened here?”
“Two jealous school boys,” Victoria stated in blazing anger as she and Fran swept past Jake and left the hall. “I want you to throw them both in jail, Jake.”, she added. Now that put Jake Titus in a bad position. Doc was his deputy and hopefully the next sherrif of Portersville and Nathan Travis was a Texas Ranger and a Captain at that. Things were calming down and though there was a mess where the fight had broken out, tables were spared and the only casualty had been Victoria’s cake and one water pitcher . Some how , Reverend Wilks made it to the podium and on seeing a signal that things were under control from Jake Titus, he gave the blessing and invited all the folks who had run when the fight started to come back and enjoy the food and fellowship. Jake marched Doc and Nathan outside into the church yard. “You boys better come with me,” he said sternly “I want to know what started all this and why you both are wearing that cake.”
“You going to lock us up, Jake?”, Doc asked a little worried.
“If I have to,” Jake replied “But it will be down right embarrassing. Now the two of you come along.” Jake stopped by his buckboard, where his wife and daughter waited. “J.W. go over to the hotel and get me some towels,” he said “I want these two to clean themselves up.”
“What happened, Jake?,” his wife asked.
“Don’t know yet, but I am going to find out,” he replied. Suzy Titus was looking around the church yard for someone from her perch on the back of the wagon. “Daddy”, she said as she climbed down. “I am going to help clean up inside,” she said.
“That would be nice, honey,” Jake replied “But when I come back and if I catch you with Hap Johanson III, he’s going to jail.”
She gave her father a saucy look as she walked passed him. Oh yes, Suzy Titus would find Hap III and they’d go off to the cemetery to share a first kiss, but as for locking the boy up, well, Jake had already give up on the idea. His little girl was becoming a woman and he had to let go. Besides that, Hap III wasn’t so bad. He’d heard from Hap Jr. That his son had just joined the cavalry. He smiled as he followed Doc and Nathan to the sherif’s office.

J. W. Titus showed up with towels and a bucket of hot water from the hotel and handed it all to Jake. “What is going on?” she asked as her husband took the bucket from her and set it down on the floor. “Two grown men acting like fools,” Jake replied “But as soon as these two get cleaned up I aim to get an explanation out of them. Now go on back to the church and see if you can help get things back to normal.” His wife left and Jake delivered the bucket and towels to Doc and Nathan who were still both snarling at each other and covered from head to toe with Victoria’s jam cake.
“All right, you two,” Jake said sternly “ start talking’ and it better be good.”
“He’s going after my girl,” Doc stated hotly as he scraped frosting out of his hair “Victoria and me , we’re courting.”
“After your girl?”, Nate questioned as he washed the remnants of cake off his face “I wasn’t after anybody but Frances Bradford.”
Doc was thunderstruck and stared at his friend as he dried his face on a clean towel. “The widow?”
“Yes, you old coot,” Nate snapped “Been wanting to court her since I got here, but you never gave me a chance to tell you about it.” Suddenly Doc became contrite. “You weren’t with Victoria?” he said, now ashamed of his behavior.”
“No,” Nate replied defensively “I was there to help her set up and to meet Frances. That woman loves you, Doc. She talks to me about you all the time and if I were you, I’d marry her before someone else comes along and asks her.”
Jake nodded his head, “So we have a misunderstanding here.” he said. “You boys shake hands and then you both better go find Victoria and Frances and get things right.”
“Nate,” Doc said “I am sorry. I lost my temper and...”
“Ain’t nothin’ we haven’t done before, Doc,” The ranger replied with a grin “We’ve been friends all our lives and I forgive you, but will Victoria?”
“I know Victoria Langford very well,” Jake interjected. “She’ll be mad for a while, but she will get over it.”
“You words to God’s ears, Jake,” Doc said worriedly.
“Alright you two,” Jake said “Now that you got the cake out of yer ears , go on and make it right with the women. By now, J.W. and Suzy have gotten things under control over at the church and I’ve got some work to do before the judge gets here tomorrow.”
“The Judge ain’t sendin’ me back to Texas!,” Ned Travis shouted from his cell.
“Shut up, Ned,” Nate snapped “You mind what few manners you got.”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


The door of Jake’s law office opened up and a well dressed man stepped inside. He was a big man, with bushy white hair and mutton chop sideburns. He carried a leather valise in his hand. Titus looked up from his desk and lay down his pencil. “Judge Douglass,” he said as he rose to his feet “Good to see you again, Your Honor.” The Judge had a grip like a vice, but then so did Jake Titus and he always one upped anyone who tried him. The judge grimaced as he withdrew his hand. “Mornin’ Jake,” he said “You got the key to the court house?” Jake pulled opened the left top drawer of his desk and sifted through a stash of carefully tied and labeled keys. “Got it right here, ” he said as he handed the man a ring of silver keys. “It’s the one with the red paint on the top,” he added.
“How’s your wife Jake?”, the Judge asked.
“Just fine, Your Honor,” Jake replied “She and Suzy are over at the church helping get things cleaned up. We had some big doin’s over there yesterday..”
“J.W. is a fine story teller, Jake,” the Judge said “Enjoyed her last story very much and so did Mrs. Douglass.”
“Glad to know that, Sir,” Titus replied as he reseated himself in his chair and motioned the judge to have a seat opposite him.
“I will pass that on to her,” Jake said.”and I am sure she will be pleased.”
“Well, Jake,” the Judge began, putting all small talk aside. “I got your letter saying you had never caught up with Sherif Dunham, so I figured you ought to be sworn in as sherrif of Portersville. Us not being a state here and all, there ain’t much pay for the job.”
“I thank you for your offer sir,” Jake replied “But I am not your man.”
“What are you taking about Titus?,” Douglass said,”You have kept order here since Dunham disappeared. You’ve done a fine job of it too, I hear.”
“I have done what I have had to do, Your Honor,” Jake answered “But recently I found a man who is far better at enforcing the law than I ever was.”
“And who might this man be?”, Douglass asked raising a white eye brow as he spoke. “And how much will it cost me to hire him. That is even if he will take the job.”
“Elliot Stevens,” Jake said proudly “The man is a former