He realized, looking at the window, that his cigarettes were there, and that he didnt’t want to move, even though he wanted a cigarette as bad as he wanted to break free of that situation.
The two men knocked on the door. “Come in” he said, and they did, with heavy boots and authority as heavy. They measured him, hair-to-toe. They were trained men, they could draw quick, and act as quickly in case the gun was not in the right range for a kill.
They had killed many men, and before the night was over, the three of them knew there was to be another killing.
-Are you Jonah Stone?
-I am, he said, thinking how many times that name had got him close to death.
Nevertheless, he coudn’t tell a lie. He just couldn’t .
-Telling the truth was always troublesome. – He said.
-The truth is an easy thing, if you are ready to tell it. We’re here for you, we’re coming out with you… Dead or alive, mind you.
He could kill two men, and he could kill as many as twelve, were his aim and his grip right, in one draw, with his twin revolvers. But he couldn’t end it right there if he did that.
He couldn’t hide from them where the money, where the girl and her child had gone were he to be prosecuted and interrogated. He knew he had to be quiet, and that he would break through pain.
And he knew he couldn’t.
He knew those men were Pinkertons and not cops, and that Pinkertons didn’t need to abide the law.
He knew that at the eyes of every man and woman on the West, he was a gambler and a rover and a bum. And that he stood no chance.
He had though, one week earlier, created a new opportunity to a woman, a new way to get by. He had robbed a Western Union Office. There are many rich and heavy packages in those offices.
He was in love, and gave it all to the woman and her child.
The two men came closer, as serenely as he was there, waiting. They asked for the money, and they asked – as if the case was closed – for a confession.
He drawed his gun.
And so did the two men.
He had fired through twelve empty chambers before the second bullet hit his brow.
—
E eu me desculpo, mil vezes, por publicar um texto em inglês. Mas eu escrevi ele assim, porque as vezes é mais simples, e porque tive uma puta preguiça de traduzir. Enfim, eu sou um babaca.