HIGH NOON THE DIRECTOR'S CUT
All eyes turned to Judge Nate and the babble hushed to a low rumble. Alex cringed behind Zelda as the mighty waterfowl of justice waddled up to the bar counter. His big eyes nearly popped out of his head!
"It's back," he whispered in a reverential tone, "It's finally back. I can finally catch up on Lost and Doctor Who."
He wheeled around and fixed his gimlet stare on Alex. "Who is this varmint? And how did he happen to be carrying OUR iPad?" he roared.
Lawyer Tom cleared his throat, about to launch into a defense of liberty, justice, and the possible loss of his fees in the event of a lynching. But his peroration was abruptly canceled before it began by a quavery voice at the saloon door: "Don't make me use the big stick you blankety blank whippersnappers!"
The crowd flew back from the wild and willful wavings of a large knobby stick, closely followed by the oldest, meanest-looking, angriest granny the town had ever seen!
"Oh lord," muttered the Judge, it's old grandma from the desert. How in Hades did she hear about this already?"
Alex took one look at the harridan advancing toward him and slumped to the floor. Zelda leaped behind the bar, knocking Doc into his shelf of whiskey bottles.
Grandma stumped forward, bent over the recumbent Alex, and in a hideous parody of a maternal voice crooned "Poor baby. Near parched to death and all they gave you was whiskey. And look - your clothes need a good wash and mend. Son, you need the care of a kindly female to get you back to rights."
And with surprising strength in her wiry frame, she scooped up Alex and slung him over her shoulder, grabbing the iPad with her other hand.
The gray doggie leapt up to snatch the iPad out of her grasp as both the Judge and Sheriff Harry shouted "Oh no you don't."
Grandma wheeled about, leveling her stick at them, and snarled "Yeah? And just who's gonna stop me?"
"I reckon that would be me, ma'am" drawled the deputy everyone had forgotten about. The tiny tuxedo'ed figure ambled forward leveling his umbrella at the dumb-struck grandma.
(To Be Continued - Keep the Popcorn Coming)