Faye winced; stupid! Stupid of her not to check the room itself first. Then again, she hadn't been expecting an eavesdropping little girl. "Well, sort of... maybe... we're not really sure." Faye let out a long sigh, and glancing at Molly, she admitted, "But I suppose it's hard not to be suspicious when a bunch of people appear out of nowhere with no adequate explanation of where they came from. We'd probably feel the same in their position." Well... maybe not because that wasn't that unusual in Ditto Town, but the point still stood.

She turned back to Bernadette and gently explained, "Look... there's a lot we don't know about how we got here. But maybe you could help us figure it out. Do you know how long Dr. - the Sheriff has been here?"

If there was one thing Bernadette loved, it was Being Helpful. She stood on tiptoe, crossing her arms on the footboard in imitation of Grace at the bar. She smiled her most Helpful Smile.

"We don't have a doctor," said Bernadette. "Just the Sheriff. He's been Sheriff as long as I can remember. Are your sheriffs doctors? Mrs. Norah always says we could use a good doctor."

It was a stretch to reach up to the top of the footboard, so Bernadette switched to sitting on a nearby trunk instead. "What's add-e-kate?"

It was still dark when Moĺly woke up. At first she thought it was the middle of the night, but after lying awake for a few minutes, she became convinced that it was closer to early morning, and that it would soon begin to grow light.

More shut-eye, she thought, closing her eyes determinedly. But her eyelids had other plans. Soon she was staring at the blank above her, thinking over the events of the previous day. The musicians, the sheriff, the boarding-house people. Then that little girl--what was her name, Bernadette?--sweet little thing, she seemed. And very precocious! Molly wondered where she belonged in the scheme of things; she had meant to ask who her parents were, and had forgotten.

After a while, Molly began itching to get up. Could she dress and creep out without wakening the others? She loved to go for an early morning walk, especially when no one else was stirring.

Quietly, she slipped out of the room, boots in hand so as to make less of a clatter.

Anthony had been beyond charmed to discover that he was expected to brush his teeth in a little porcelain bowl, that the mattress was held up by a tightly knotted set of ropes, and that he needed to polish his boots.

He'd stared at his cravat in the cracked mirror, trying to memorize the knot so as to be presentable in the morning, and then rolled up in a quilt humming Brahm's lullaby. It was fully dark when Anthony sat bolt upright, realizing he was missing something very important.

His violin!

Where had he left it? Why had he left it? What was he thinking? How could he have been so scatter-brained? Who had the violin now? Were they taking care of it? What if they didn't latch the case and dropped it?

Heart thudding wildly, Anthony felt around under the bed for the case, certain he'd only dreamed he'd forgotten the violin at the tavern. But his long, sensitive, fingers didn't find anything--not even a dust bunny.

But how could he have dreamed he forgot it, if he was dreaming this whole Wild West experience? No, he must have neglected to grab the case when things turned weird. Therefore, he was still dreaming, which meant he probably should retrieve his violin. Anthony wouldn't normally have exited through a second story window, but it was a dream and the chances of having a valid reason to tie two sheets together and knot them around the bedpost were otherwise slim.

His shoulders and upper body were very much awake and aching from the effort of not falling two stories when his feet touched the ground. Anthony left the question of whether he would return to his bed the same way he'd left it for when he got back to the boarding house and set out for the tavern.

The sky had turned from black to a misty gray, and there was the early morning chill to the air, when Anthony reached the spot where the adventure had started.

And this time, the tavern door was locked.

Walk: By the Tavern

“Couldn’t sleep?” Harry asked, lolling against the railing. “Too bad. Hugh’s closed up for the night.”

He looked down the street, gazing into the nothingness of the morning mist.

“So how’d ya learn to play?”

"Adequate means 'good enough'." Faye explained. Deciding not to draw any more attention to themselves, she told her, "Look, we probably shouldn't hold you up any more, I think we all need to go to bed. And that includes you, I think. Thank you for all your help, Bernadette."

After that, the ladies all went to bed and fell asleep rather quickly, so Faye was left to her musings while she dreamt. As you might imagine, this didn't lead to a very restful night. There were too many questions swirling in her head, and she wouldn't be satisfied until she had some answers.

One time when she opened her eyes again, and found it was still dark (but lighter), she realized that there was noise going on in the room. She looked around, and saw that Molly was getting out of bed and creeping away. Faye dressed herself as best as she could - probably looking astoundingly horribly dressed to the natives - and scooped up her own boots to follow.

Luckily, Molly hadn't gone too far by the time Faye caught up with her. She ran up and, a little breathless, whisper-called, "Molly! Where are you off to?"

Walk: By the Tavern

"It's the family business," Anthony explained. "Everyone, from old aunt Ruth to sister Sally's latest prodigy is expected to know how to coax a note from just about anything. I started with a rattle and worked my way up. You're not half bad yourself."

He stared despondently at the door. "Did you see if I left my violin inside? How soon will Hugh open?"

Walk: In a Fog

Starting with surprise, Molly peered into the shadows. "Oh, it's you, Faye! I was just going to take a stroll, check out what the town's like. Maybe go out into the country a bit, get a bit of fresh air, and see if there's a decent hill to climb. Nothing like a good brisk walk before breakfast, as my Gramps used to say. You want to come, too?"

Her attention was caught by something white dangling from the window above. "That's odd," she said, grabbing it and giving it a firm tug. "It's a sheet. Do you suppose that this is an ordinary way of exiting the boarding-house?" Then she shrugged. "Oh well, guess I've seen odder things in my time."

Walk: By the Tavern

Harry chuckled.

“Well, I make do with what I’ve got,” he said. “My kid sister—she’s a Ruth too, good name—has this little harp she plays, and she makes it sing. Kind of like you with your strings.”

He paused, listening to Anthony’s question.

“Hugh’s not likely to be about for a while, but it’ll open soon; the kids have school in the back room. I guess if you wait a half hour or so, someone with a key will be along. I’ll wait with you, if you’d like.”

Walk: By the Tavern

"What, afraid I'll do something rash?" wondered Anthony, who was wondering the same thing. How far was he willing to go, assuming this was a dream? "I'm just a guy with a violin. Except I don't have my violin. How'd you end up here, anyway?"

Walk: By the Tavern

Harry chuckled.

“I sell insurance, so I follow the money makers. They’re supposed to be makin’ this place some fancy sort of hot springs resort, but if hasn’t been goin the way most folks expected it. I thought it’d be a good bet to be here when the rich folks started rollin’ in, but with all the delays, I haven’t seen a rat’s whisker of luck. Shoulda stayed back east.”

Walk: By the Tavern

Anthony made idle conversation. "I'm no expert on resorts, but I've heard that iffn you build it they'll come. What's the trouble? Hot springs dry up?"

Walk: In A Fog

"Not a bad idea. I'm not getting back to sleep any time soon..." '...and maybe get a few answers about this place.' She silently added. Molly seemed in too good a mood to bring up that idea. When Molly found the sheet, Faye had to stare at it in bewilderment for a couple of moments. Why...? The two of them had made it out with no trouble, why would someone resort to this? She glanced up - it hadn't come from their room, it must've come from the men's bedroom. 'I hope it wasn't Cody.' She thought to herself.

But, with no sign of any injured would-be escapees, the pair decided to move on. They went behind the boarding house, away from the main street, hoping to get away from the main street and the rest of town. Frankly, Faye didn't really want to run into any townsfolk at this point and have to try to explain themselves.

Before they'd gotten far, however, the morning mist grew thicker and thicker, until it was a solid fog. Faye squinted and peered, but she could make nothing of the landscape ahead through the fog. She glanced back. The fog wasn't nearly so thick behind them - she could still see where they'd came from. She shivered, and not because of the morning cold.

Walk: By the Tavern

“Nah, Sol has been doin’ his best, but there’s been a mess of issues with gettin’ supplies. They thought the townsfolk would see the opportunities industry bring and jump on board, but none of ‘em have jumped an inch. When Sol first came out, he set orders from back east that were low.”

Anthony had hit on Town gossip, and two of the sources of Harry’s personal woes, so the insurance salesman had no trouble divulging the most pertinent information.

“First off, they’re havin’ to build awful far out, not near the edge of town as they were supposed to,” he continued, “they thought they’d be buyin’ the land from the gov’ment, but Hugh an’ Benjamin made it down to the courthouse while they were all busy surveyin’ and bought it up. Took all their money to do it, if I heard correctly, but folks was handin’ ‘em cash as they rode out of town. They wired back right away when they got it, an’ Grace set up to sniping the heels of anyone who set foot on it.”

He paused and looked mournfully at his own shoes.

“I had such a nice pair of oxfords....”

Walk: In a Fog

The fog really stuck in your throat, Molly found, making you want to cough. She had heard about pea-soup fogs before, but had never experienced one so thick. She pushed on a bit farther, hearing rather than seeing that Faye was right behind her. They were just past the last of the buildings when she paused, trying to make out any features beyond. Common sense dictated that they should stop now. No point getting lost in the middle of nowhere. But what was that? It looked like a bridge--a low wooden bridge with handrails. Measuring the distance, Molly decided it might be safe to go that far.

"What do you think, Faye? There's not much chance to see anything, and it'd be a bit awkward if we got lost and they had to send out a search party. I'd like to check out that bridge, and then perhaps we'd better head back. So much for a exploratory morning walk," she grinned ruefully.

The bridge crossed a deep-cut creekbed, bone-dry at the moment, but showing evidence
of a vigorous spring runoff. That wasn't what made Molly gasp, though.

"Faye, look! Isn't that the boarding-house?" She pointed off the far end of the bridge. "Have we gotten so turned around that we've done a full circle, or is there something else going on?"