first entrance

[almosthonorable]

[ oom: they're gonna hang me in the mornin'
before the night is done
they're gonna hang me in the mornin'
i'll never see the sun ]

The man in the doorway eyes the room as he brushes the dirt from his black duster.

This isn't the not-so-respectable establishment he expected, but it's a bar.

Which means there's whiskey. And he's thirsty.

[

Comments

[lasthalfmile]

Dan is working his way through a glass of that fine whiskey while sitting at the bar. He can see the door when it opens, because when you're dead and stuck in a bar, what better to do than watch who comes in and out.

However.

long black coat black hat dark eyes

That was not who he was expecting anytime soon.

[lasthalfmile]

William.

No boy should see his daddy shot down, ever.

Ever.

"Don't think I'd say no to that, Wade."

[almosthonorable]

No boy should see that. No boy should turn a gun on the man responsible, and feel half-sick with guilt when he can't pull the trigger.

"Damn straight, you won't."

[lasthalfmile]

"Whiskey, then."

Who is he to go against what Ben Wade says he'll do?

[almosthonorable]

"Whiskey's good."

Two more glasses appear, and Wade can't help but chuckle quietly again.

"That's some trick. What else can this place do?"

[lasthalfmile]

"Other than raise the dead?"

Dan cannot help but chuckle ever so slightly at that himself, with a shake of the head. "They got a boardin' house upstairs. Stables out back, woods, an awful large lake too. And it goes into a bit of shoreline to the ocean, somehow. Logic ain't quite all here."

A beat.

"Not t'mention the window."

He nods at the Observation Window, the universe cartwheeling towards disaster every fifteen minutes. Right on time.

Unlike that damn train.

[almosthonorable]

"Nice switch from the desert, even without the logic."

He turns to look at the Window.

And stares.

" -- huh."

[lasthalfmile]

"That's 'bout what I said."

A beat.

"Sort of loop, someone told me. Every quarter of an' hour, on the dot."

[almosthonorable]

He's still staring.

"Somethin' to set your watch by."

And more reliable than those goddamn trains.

[lasthalfmile]

Goddamn trains.

Dan puts a hand to his vest pocket, but there ain't a watch there. Maybe William took it. He hopes so. Watch like that could be worth somethin' if they needed to sell it for a bit of cash.

Tick. Tick.

Ain't no heartbeat there, either.

[almosthonorable]

Wade's heartbeat - steady, solid - is suddenly too loud in his ears as he watches the Window.

Look too long at a sight like that, a man starts to feel mighty insignificant.

He doesn't like that feeling, not one bit.

So he slides his eyes back to Dan.

"How long you been here?"

[lasthalfmile]

"Awhile."

Dan glances once more at the Window before he turns his attention back to Wade. He crunches the numbers a bit in his head. "Few weeks. Maybe a month."

Or two?

Time really doesn't have any meaning in the afterlife. You just are.

[almosthonorable]

His eyes narrow, almost imperceptibly.

"Think you mighta been right about that time mix-up."

Time. Late, early. It's always about time these days.

[lasthalfmile]

Dan refrains from saying told you and instead just nods.

"Lot of time t'think. Ain't like I can just go home."

Ever.

[almosthonorable]

"Don't reckon so."

A beat and a wry half-smile.

"But there's whiskey here. And, hell, you've got me to talk to again."

[lasthalfmile]

A just-as-wry smile crosses his features.

"Well I'll have to thank the good Lord for that, right quick."

Then he glances at the Front Door, then back at Ben.

"Tell me somethin'," a nod in that direction. "Can y'see the door?"