The King Hill War by Robert Vaughan

the ride in about what they were going to buy.
    “Mama, do you think Mr. Beasley will have any peanuts?” Hannah asked.
    Cynthia laughed. “I should have never taught you how to make peanut brittle,” she said. “If you had your way, you would make it just about every day.”
    “But you said you had it all the time you were growing up.”
    “I grew up in Georgia. We always had peanuts and molasses. Out here, everything has to come by train and it is much more expensive.”
    “But if he has some, will you buy them?”
    “I don’t know, honey, there are things we need more than peanuts.”
    “Buy some peanuts,” Ian said. “I like peanut brittle myself.”
    Cynthia laughed. “I hate it when the two of you team up on me.”
    “The three of us,” Hannah said.
    “Three of you?”
    “I know Mr. Hawke likes peanut brittle. So he probably wants some too.”
    “How do you know he likes it?”
    “You said you knew him when you were a young girl,” Hannah said. “That means he grew up in Georgia too. And if he grew up in Georgia, he likes peanut brittle.”
    “Well, I do like it,” Hawke said, laughing. “But you aren’t going to get me drawn into this.”
    Ian came into town, then stopped the wagon in front of the Farmers and Ranchers Supply Company. A sign out front read:
     
    SUPPLIES FOR ALL MANKIND.
    NO ORDER TOO LARGE TO FILL
    NO ORDER TOO SMALL TO APPRECIATE
     
    Ian pulled his watch out of his pocket and looked at it. “It’s three o’clock,” he said. “Will three hours be long enough for you ladies to get all of your gabbing done?”
    “Hah!” Cynthia said. “Like you and the other men won’t be gabbing away down at the saloon.”
    “Whatever gabbing we do can be done in three hours,” Ian said. “What about you?”
    “Three hours will be plenty of time,” Cynthia answered.
    “All right, then Hawke and I will meet you at the City Pig restaurant at six o’clock and we’ll have supper before we start home.”
    “Oh, we get to eat out,” Hannah said. “How wonderful!”
    Stepping down onto the boardwalk, Cynthia and Hannah watched the wagon drive away before they went inside. In the store, a large sign advertised:
     
    WE WILL HAVE BUNTING FOR THE FOURTH OF JULY
     
    Jesse Carlisle was riding into King Hill with his brother and three other men from the Carlisle Ranch. Just as they came into town, Jesse saw Hannah Macgregor and her mother stepping down from the wagon in front of the Farmers and Ranchers Supply Company.
    “You fellas go on,” Jesse said. “I’ve got some business to attend to.”
    “Will you fellas listen to my little brother?” Johnny said. “He’s got some…business…to attend to.” Johnny set the word business apart, dragging it out mockingly. “Weknow what your business is.” Johnny laughed. “You ever seen an old hound sniffin’ around a bitch dog? That’s the way you are, sniffin’ around that little sheep girl.”
    “Ease up on the boy, Johnny,” Ralph said. “If he’s got ’im a girl he likes, what’s the harm?”
    “What’s the harm?” Johnny asked. “I’ll tell you what’s the harm. It’s a matter of family. Somebody needs to tell him that cows and sheep don’t mix, and if Pa won’t tell him, I will.”
    “Who I see or do not see is none of your concern, Johnny Carlisle,” Jesse said. “Now you and the others go on about your business and leave me be.”
    “Baaaa,” Johnny said, imitating a sheep as they rode away. The others laughed.
    Jesse dismounted in front of the store, tied off his horse, then went in. He walked over to the gents’ furnishings table and started looking at denim trousers. Across the store he saw Hannah and her mother.
    Hannah had seen Jesse come in to the store, and she started moving, slowly, toward him, examining items on the notion table. She picked a spool of thread, then looked in his direction. He moved from the gents’ furnishings to the feed and seed part of the store; she moved from the