Cowboy Girl Annie Read Free Page B

thought he had a customer. When she talked to him, she
wanted his full attention.
    The prune faced man turned around
and critically surveyed Annie. He stared at her slumping brimmed,
faded tan cowboy hat and worked his way down to her faded red
blouse and the worn brown full skirt to her knee length cowboy
boots.
    He sneered at her. “What do you want
in here?”
    Annie swallowed hard as she looked
the man right in his cold blue eyes. He wasn't any friendlier than
a rattler, but she was used to his kind of attitude. None of that
mattered if she was successful in selling the gun to him. She
wouldn't have to deal with him ever again if she was
lucky.
    “ A friend of mine found a pistol he'd
like to sell. He sent me in here to see if you would be interested
in buying it,” she said.
    “ No deal. The cops were in here early
this morning, checking to see if anyone had shown up with a
revolver to pawn or sell. I was able to truthfully tell them no,
and I want to keep it that way.”
    “ Surely it wasn't my …. my friend's
gun. Why, he's as honest as the day is long,” Annie stammered and
swallowed hard.
    The man grunted and slanted his head
to the side while he gave this nervous woman a curious look. “Sure,
if you say so. It doesn't matter to me one way or the other what
your friend is like. The police say they need the gun they're
looking for to pen a murder on someone.
    Now that crime matters to me if that
gun was to be in my shop when the cops come back. It would be my
hide they'd nail to the wall of one of their jail cells.” The man's
voice rose as he continued. “If I'm not making myself clear to you,
lady, what I'm telling you is in my line of work guns are too hot
to handle right now. I ain't buying any guns. You got that? No
guns. That's my final word.”
    Annie thanked the pawn shop owner
politely for his time. She made sure to mention she'd pass the
information on to her friend before she hastily retreated out the
door. After taking a look both ways, she pushed her cart across the
intersection.
    So now this was a fine skillet of
fish she was in. The cops were already checking the pawn shops.
That gun was going to be harder to get rid of than she first
thought so no use going to another shop. One of the pawn shop
owners would be sure to turn her in to the cops.
    While she pondered, she slowed her
cart down. Maybe she was going about this whole thing the wrong
way. She should rethink getting rid of the gun. She could keep it
for protection.
    After all, cowgirls had guns back in
the old western days. It didn't matter to Annie if no one knew she
had the gun like a real cowgirl. She'd know, and that was all that
was important.
    In the past, she'd run into some
mighty rough hombres living the life she did. One of these days,
she might not be able to talk herself out of a dangerous scrape.
She'd need a gun to defend herself.
    What was that cowgirl’s name I used
to read the stories about? She was such a crack shot years ago. Her
name was Annie just like mine. Annie? Annie? Annie something. She
puzzled over the last name and couldn't come up with it. “Oh well,
maybe I’ll think of it later,” she mumbled.
    A male voice behind her shouted,
“Hey, Cowboy Girl Annie, wait up for me, will you?”
    Annie cringed as she sped up her
cart to get away. Her first thought was the pawn shop dealer had
called the cops even though she knew that was foolish. Not many of
the cops knew her full handle so as to be able to call out to her
by name.
    Her problem was she purely was
feeling guilty and nervous right now. She had to take a deep breath
and calm down. She needed a clear head to decide how she intended
to ditch the gun if that sour puss pawn shop man had squealed on
her.
    If one of the cops stopped her,
she'd need to come up with a good story. She could say she threw
the gun away, because she knew she couldn't sell it.
    If he asked who the friend was the
pawn shop owner said she mentioned, she'd have to be honest and