Morning Glory Read Free

was still unpainted, a sure sign that it had
been hastily thrown up to accommodate the sudden
influx of oil field work. Nothing fancy. Just a twostorey frame building with a wooden sidewalk in front.
A simple wooden sign with HOTEL written in red lettering was tacked up above the front door. A sign
propped up in the window said there were vacancies.
    "Thanks for the ride and remember what I said. You
get a notion to move up to a bigger company, we'll see
what we can do to get you a job," Danny said.
    "You are quite welcome," Briar said. "And if you
aren't happy at Crystal, come talk to Cecil at Rose Oil."
    All five of them nodded and hauled their baggage
through the hotel's front door.
    Briar got out of the car, stretched his six feet plus
lanky frame and looked up and down the street. Off to
his right, about three doors down, was a swinging sign
with POOL HALL on it. He passed a place with DRUG
STORE written on a sign in the window. Evidently,
there was only one person in town who made signs and
he had little imagination. Three people occupied the
bench outside the drug store. Two very pretty women and a man who looked like he might be their brother.
Briar tipped his hat toward them and kept walking.

    He swung open the pool hall door, let his eyes adjust
to the stale darkness, listened to the chatter of a few
men shooting a game and made his way to the back. A
big, burly man with a cigar hanging out of the side of
his mouth stood behind a short makeshift bar of unfinished rough lumber laid across two barrels.
    "What can I get you? You a gov'ment man?" the man
asked around the cigar. His tone was high and squeaky
and didn't go with the close-cropped hair or the width
of his shoulders.
    Briar wasn't about to grin at the big man's feminine
voice but it took a concentrated effort to keep his face
passive. "No, don't reckon I am"
    "Well then I got some really good hooch under the
counter or there's Coca Cola. Mix 'em up if you want.
Not bad served that way and if the feds or the preacher
either one comes in, it looks like you're drinking
Coke" He smiled at his own joke. "You new in town?
Comin' in to find a job on the oil wells?"
    "I'll just have a cup of coffee," Briar said. "And yes,
I'm new in town. Working for Rose Oil. Lookin' for a
place to stay. Got any good boarding houses?"
    "Couple. But the hotel still has rooms. Just built it a
few months ago. Ain't even had time to get its fair share
of roaches and rats." The man set a cup of tarry substance on the bar.
    "Might have to stay there, but I'd rather have a boarding house" Briar sipped the coffee. Actually it
wasn't bad. A little strong, but then that was the only
way to drink it. If it didn't curl your toenails, it was
only murdered water.

    "Then you need to walk about four blocks on up the
street to the Morning Glory Inn. Miss Clara runs it and
I heard one of her boarders got married last week so
she's got a room," the man said. He'd teach Clara to
spurn his offer to take her for a Sunday afternoon ride
in his buggy. Yes, he would. He'd spoil her evening by
sending oil riffraff up to her door. She'd singe the eyebrows off that tall fellow for sure with her sharp tongue.
By the time she got through dressing him down for
ruining the whole landscape around Healdton with
those terrible oil wells, then went on to tell him that
taking oil from the ground was a sin punishable by a
slow and torturous death, the stranger would be glad to
stay in the hotel. He might even be willing to give a
dollar a night to sleep under one of the pool tables.
    "Thank you for the information" Briar finished the
coffee in a single gulp and headed out across the wooden floor that hadn't seen a mop since the day the pool
hall was built. He made it to the door when he heard the
store owner demanding that two other men take their
arguments outside and what he'd do to them if they
broke one of his cue sticks. Then a solid wall hit Briar
in the