Far West
A Story
by Ron Tanner“Arizona man driving stolen vehicle caught with rattlesnake, uranium, whiskey, and firearm”
We were about twenty miles from Zuni land when the troopers nabbed us. Could’ve gotten in on the Arizona side and then they’d’ve had to petition for extradition. It’s a sovereign nation.
But our luck broke bad in Reno, where Marty Madeiros hung us up for five days as we bargained with him for a truck. By “bargain” I mean argue. Marty owed me $2,500 for some gold dust I’d traded him, won in a game of miniature golf—I’m still good with a putter. Marty gave me twenty-seven Liberty-head silver dollars, a Confederate five-dollar bill that he swore was real (came with authentication certificate), a sawed-off shotgun, which I hocked as soon as I could, and a truck. Not the truck we ended up with, though.
