THE NEXT DAY. WAYNE CITY, WABASH (PCG) OR ILLINOIS (TNG). 10 AM CST. SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2025.
Steve Ecco hadn’t
slept well on the train. He’d awakened every few minutes when
something bumped or shuddered. After a quick breakfast of leftover
Cold Fried Don’t Ask, he splurged on some hot water and soap for a
shave and a sponge bath, and put on the clean clothes he’d been
saving. I guess that’s about as spruced up as
I’m getting. At least I combed my hair.
The platform at Wayne
City was just a big slab of concrete with a frame and fabric roof,
and Ecco was the only one who got off there. He didn’t quite have
time to look around before a tall, thin man, maybe thirty years
old, stepped up onto the platform. He was dressed in the mix of
deerskin, camo, and denim that tended to be popular among serious
wilderness scouts like Larry Mensche; unlike Larry, he wore a large
coonskin cap and the seams of his deerskin shirt were fringed. His
shoes were low moccasins rather than Larry’s heavy snake-highs.
“Mister Ecco?” the man said, extending a hand that felt like rocks
under rawhide.
“That’s
me.”
“I’m Freddie Pranger.
I’m s’pose to take you on over to Pale Bluff. It’s a nice day and
there hasn’t been much bandit or tribal trouble lately, we’ll walk
it in maybe three hours, but you might want to visit the plumbing
first.”
Ecco hurried into the
public restroom by the station. Freddie
Pranger, Jesus, they sent Freddie Pranger to pick me up. Sure, part of Pranger’s reputation
was just because he was buddies with Carol May Kloster, the star
reporter around here, but still . . . this was like going into San
Antonio and being met by Travis, Bowie, or Crockett.
And why should it matter how Freddie Pranger got to be
famous, as long as he really is as good as they say? He
refastened his fly. Buffalo Bill was nobody
without Ned Buntline to report him. Ecco breathed deeply
once, feeling the hand of his inner, smarter, braver self resting
on his shoulder, and to himself he said, with far more confidence
than he felt, Wanna be a legend, Steve Ecco,
just like you’ve always dreamed? Here’s where we
start.