Cindy and Charlie have just flown to Tuscon Regional Airport and they were getting their bags at the carousel and went to get their rental car at Enterprise.
On their way out Cindy and Charlie were laughing and talking and occasionally stealing a kiss.
Cindy said," Well, another 30 minutes and we will be in Tombstone after leaving here. You have brought a lot of knives on this trip."
He laughed and said," You shouldn't be the only one trying to make money on this trip and to think your managing editor is paying for me to make some money."
She laughed until she had tears in her eyes and said," Yes, he is."
A couple came in and said," That is C.W. and Cindy you know C.W. who has that homestead and Cindy who writes in Western Lifestyle magazine."
By now Charlie got used to signing autographs and this couple wanted to take turns posing with Charlie and Cindy and they both signed their notepad."
As they separated from the couple Cindy laughed and said," You are now a celebrity. I told you I would make you one."
Charlie said," If I was smart I would try to sell them one of my knives."
Cindy said," You can always chase them down."
As they were walking out he said," Don't tempt me."
Cindy laughed so hard she had tears in her eyes and she said," I will drive."
Charlie said," Be my guest I don't like the thought of driving in a big city, Bozeman is bad enough."
Charlie held open the door and Cindy got in but not before stealing a kiss."
Charlie got in the passenger seat and Cindy started up the Tahoe.
Charlie said," This is a fancy rig with leather seats and all."
She laughed and said," This is how city dwellers travel. It even has bun warmers."
Charlie laughed and said," Just one more thing to break."
They drove to Tombstone and Charlie said," I know of a hotel it isn't fancy but it is a type of place that tourists don't stay at."
She said," Great."
They drove just to the outskirts and pulled in front of what is called the Greystone Hotel and went into the lobby and the manager recognized C.W.
He said," I am doing well this time I am just along for the ride my wife is doing an article on this glorious town."
He looked at her and said," Oh Cindy Edwards now I presume Cindy Smythe."
Cindy said," You have that right now for Charlie never living here you sure know him."
The manager said," That is his name, Charlie he comes down here to sell his knives and hides occasionally. Those tourists will pay good money for them. But C.W. your name is safe with me. So how long have you two been married?"
Cindy thought about it for a couple of minutes and said," I believe 10 years and so not only do I write the articles I also check the traplines with C.W. and also last season I got my first bull elk."
The manager laughed and said," So you are officially a mountain woman you live what you write."
She said," Doing it with my love. My editor still can't understand me living like this he publishes the magazine in New York."
The manager shook his head and said," That is funny well we do have a quaint room that C.W. usually stays at when he is here."
He called a younger man and helped them with their bags as they went upstairs and at the door C.W. tipped him.
They went into the room and set up the bags and it had a nice bathroom with antique fixtures and the like.
She said," This is quaint."
He laughed and said," No cable in this room but I usually don't need it."
He kissed her and he said," I do love you."
She asked," Should we nap?"
He said," It must be my age but yes."
He kicked off his boots and she took off her loafers and they laid on the bed and they kissed for a couple of minutes and she laid her head on his chest.
They napped for about an hour then Cindy woke up and kissed Charlie's lips and he responded by grabbing her in an embrace and they started kissing passionately for about 3 minutes.
She asked," How are you feeling?"
He said," A lot better."
She said," So do I."
They started moving out of bed and he looked at his pocket watch and saw it was 12:30 in the afternoon.
He said," Why don't we go down and eat some lunch.
She said," Sounds wonderful."
They got up and she put her loafers on and he put his boots on and his hat. He offered his arm to Cindy and she took it.
She said," This is wonderful and I love how you pick out the hotels."
He laughed and said," That is because I have done business here."
They went to the old looking elevator and he pushed the button and the door opened and they stepped in.
As it was going down Cindy said," So how do we find something that the readers might like?"
He said," Let's look around I know there will be people that tourists don't see. You know I do have some friends who sell their wares here in Tombstone who have lived in this area for a long time or even native-born."
She said," Really?"
He said," Ya. let's eat lunch and walk around a bit and I tell you what I put on one of my knives and sheath on my belt."
They ordered a brisket potato and a salad and the waitress after taking their orders brought a beer for C.W. and a white wine for Cindy.
She said," This is so pleasant here."
He said," Yes since this restaurant is connected to this hotel it isn't your typical touristy hotel."
She said," I like that."
He was drinking his beer and she was sipping her wine.
One man walked in and said," C.W. how are you doing?"
Charlie said," Well, Justin how are you? Bringing some of your furniture?"
He said," I have and brought some of your knives and sheaths and other things?"
Charlie said," Yes and Justin this is my beautiful wife Cindy who writes for Western Style magazine."
He looked at her and said," You were Cindy Edwards."
She said," I was now Cindy Smythe now I made C.W. a celebrity."
Justin laughed and said," Oh yes, I know that was the first thing he wanted."
Charlie said," She is here to write an article about Tombstone and not like those other cheesy articles."
He said," Well, I believe Ben Williams will be here with his son."
Charlie asked," Is Ben still alive?"
Justin said," Ya he is now living with his son Brad and wife Shirley they all still live in the Mesas."
Charlie said," Well then, I will have Cindy sit down with Ben."
He said," She really needs to talk to him. and I now will sit down at the table to eat."
As he walking away Cindy said," Tell me about this Ben Williams."
Charlie said," Ben was born in the Mesas around 1905 he has made different jewelry and different clothing like jackets and stuff and he has ranched at the Mesas almost his entire life."
She said,' Wonderful."
He said'," Now he comes mostly to reminisce with the old-timers."
Their dinners came and they started eating and Charlie's beer was refilled,
After eating they went up with the ticket and Cindy paid with the company credit card and she looked at the price and was stunned at how reasonable the price was.
As they were leaving she said," In New York, this would have cost over $100."
He said," Oh the restaurants in the main tourist area cost almost $100 for 2."
They walked back upstairs and got in the room and Charlie got one of his knives and put it in his elk skin sheath and put it on his belt.
They took the elevator down and then went out to the boardwalk and went to the different booths and saw people who knew C.W. but C.W. couldn't remember their names.
They got to one of the booths and there was a grizzled old man with a man and woman.
Then Charlie said," Cindy this man is Ben Williams and that is his son and his daughter-in-law, Shirley."
Ben said," C.W. how are you today? Did you finally get smart about marrying someone better than you?"
Charlie said," Yes, I did. This is Cindy and she writes for Western Lifestyle."
Cindy looked at Ben and said," I understand you were born on the ranch at the Mesas."
Ben laughed and said," Not like the westerns where we were chasing rustlers every day. A lot of hard work. The ranch is about 35 miles from Tombstone and when we came to sell wares or what not until about 1940 we would stay here for about a week because we would either be coming here on horseback or buckboard. One thing after Pearl Harbor I enlisted for the Army." I got to come home after Germany surrendered, That battle in the Ardennes Forest that was so cold and miserable and we couldn't get air support for 4 to 6 days and getting pounded by the Germans."
She was writing as fast she could and he laughed and asked," How long are you two going to be here?"
She said," Oh probably a week."
Ben said, " Honey, I will be here I am sure 4 days you have time and heck there are a few old timers who are younger than me who will drop by and visit me."
She asked," Do you mind if I bring back a digital recorder next time?"
Ben said," No go ahead. C.W. let me look at that knife."
C.W. took the sheath and the knife off his belt and handed it to Ben.
Ben took the knife out and said," Nice blade."
Charlie said," Thank you."
Ben asked," What is this sheath made out of?"
Charlie asked," Elk hide."
Ben said," This handle I see is made of elk antler."
Charlie said," Yes."
Ben said," You shouldn't take a dime less than $200 wholesale by have prices gone up but so has pay."
Charlie said," Thank you."
As they walked Cindy said," What a start on my article."
Charlie kissed her and said," I am glad I can be of help."
She said," That Ben is so interesting."
Charlie said," Wait until he is sitting with other old timers and they are sipping on their whiskey."
She asked," Is it interesting?"
Charlie said," Oh ya with the old cowboys and whiskey and reminiscing."
She asked," You don't think he will mind?" " He invited you and besides he will love the fact that some of his stories might be in the magazine;"
They walked around and looking at things and making small talk with some of the people at the sales tables.
They walked back and Brad said," Dad went to take a nap why don't you two come to the front of the saloon around 8 tonight and I think you will enjoy it."
As they were leaving the editor called and asked," How are things?"
Cindy said," I met the most fascinating man he is about 96 and he grew up in the Mesas about 35 miles from here. We were invited to meet with him around 8 tonight he will be with other old timers I guess those in their 70s and 80s sipping whiskey and reminiscing."
The editor said," Fantastic."
She said," He told me a little bit about of his experience about the battle of Ardennes telling us about how miserably cold it was. You want to talk to C.W., sure you can."
He said," C.W..
The editor asked," Do you have your knives?"
Charlie said," I have some of my knives."
"Can you have some pictures of them to be put in the magazine on display?"
Charlie said," Sure I can."
The editor said," Who knows maybe some of the readers will throw some business your way."
Charlie said," I can always use that."
He handed the phone back Cindy. Cindy said," Oh yes, I will be in front of that saloon at 8."
She disconnected and said," Let's see what time it is."
They looked at the time and saw it was getting towards 5 and they saw they had time.
All of a sudden they heard a fiddle a guitar and a banjo and Charlie said," You might want to see this."
They walked down the boardwalk and in front of the old general store were men playing an impromptu jam session in front of the store.
All of a sudden they started playing and a man started singing Down in The Valley.
As they finished Cindy started tearing up and she said,' That is beautiful."
One of them said," What is commonly called cowboy music is music that a lot of times were just sung on the trail or around the fire sometimes they had guitars and other times just their voices."
She said," That is great."
One of them said," Some would sing of being behind the cattle or other times just missing their families.'
Cindy said," I am Cindy Smythe with Western Lifestyle magazine I would love to hear more,"
They started playing The Texas Trail and the next thing Charlie whispered if you want to eat dinner it is 6:30.
She said," We have to go but I would love to interview you say tomorrow sometime."
The man who was the vocalist and fiddler said," I would love that, My name is Matthew Collinsworth."
She said," Matthew will love to hear everything you would like to tell me."
One of them said," Be careful what you wish for mam once he gets wound up he can go for days."
Everybody laughed and Cindy and the band all said bye.
They went to a cafe and ordered their supper.
Cindy reached her hand across the table and Charlie took it.
She said," I can't believe it we will be hearing Ben and the other old cowboys reminiscing with stories."
He laughed and said," Well, when we get too old to do much else we do get wound up with stories."
Cindy asked," Are you saying you are old?"
He laughed and said," I can still walk the traplines and hunt and get firewood."
Cindy said," Yes you can."
They brought roast beef and corn on the cob and also green beans.
They started eating and she said," I love it that you take me off the beaten path."
He said," I am glad,"
They ate dinner and then they finished eating and Cindy said," I insist."
She paid with the magazine credit card and she said," They shouldn't complain and besides you will be displaying your knives for the magazine."
They walked out of the cafe and he looked at his watch and said," Wow, it is now 7:50 might as well head to the saloon.
They walked to the saloon and he ordered a beer and she ordered a mixed drink and they took a couple of chairs outside.
They leaned the chairs against the wall and Charlie lit up his pipe.
She asked," Is this the saloon?"
He said," Yes dear it is."
10 minutes later an old man walked towards the saloon and he went in and ordered a round of whiskey and came back out.
C.W. said," Hi Ben."
Ben said," Hi C.W. I hope those guys don't think they are too old to come."
Next thing was some old men walking talking and laughing and Ben said," I am glad you guys can make it."
They all came back out with shot glasses full of whiskey.
One of them said," My son brought me in what he called a pickup."
They asked," Is it?"
He laughed and said," Well it has a bed but also carpeting and leather seats and bun warmers.'
Ben said," I remember when they strung up electric lines to the ranch."
One of them asked," When was that."
Ben said," I believe it was 34 or 35 when I saw it at first I thought it was a telegraph or telephone lines but we already had that."
"When did you get a car?"
Ben said," Around 40. I remember when I stayed in a hotel the first time with my pa I believe it was around 33 or 34 he sold some chaps he made and that hotel was about $10 a night but pa had to sell about 5 to 10 chaps in order to be able to take money back home. We took $30 home which by the way was a lot of money and heck was able to repair the roof and I was able to get new shoes and mom was still able to put about $10 in the old flour can."
The men all nodded in agreement and Ben said," I am not going to complain about the price of things because if a man was able to make $5000 in a years time he was making a lot of money."
Cindy had her digital recorder running and one man who was in his 70s he said," I remember when I was sent to Asia to that country called Vietnam. You talk about heat and humidity and wow talk about files some of the biggest flies I have ever seen bigger than the horse flies and more aggressive."
All of the men were laughing but he looked at Ben and asked," How cold was it in the Ardenne forest."
Ben said," I learned live with frostbite." If it gets down to 30 or colder my feet and hands hurt. I was still restless after I came home and wanted to see Wyoming, my feet hurt all winter long and so I came back to Arizona."
One of the cocktail servers and he refilled Charlie's beer and asked for a shot of whiskey. Ben laughed and said," So you finally decide to join us with whiskey."
Charlie said," I thought it was maybe time for me to come to the adult table."
Everybody laughed so hard they had tears in their eyes.
Charlie asked," What was your first car?"
Ben said," The Model T I brought a junked one home got the motor running again and I drove it until I went to war."
Charlie asked," What kind of car did you get after the war?"
Ben said," A 1934 Model A I felt like a speed demon when I went from that 4 cylinders in that Model T to that V8 in the 34 Model A."
Charlie said,'" Nice."
Ben said," The first new car was the 1957 Ford Fairlane nice car and we had that 45 Ford pickup that ranch was really going gangbusters and heck we had that paved state highway in 53."
Charlie looked at the time and he said," Well, honey it is 12 already and I bet your editor will be calling."
Cindy said," You are right. We really loved your stories but I believe my editor will probably call tomorrow but can we join you gentlemen tomorrow night?"
They all said," Sure, I can't believe your readers would be interested in old fogies like us."
Cindy said," Well, to hear you talk about Vietnam and laughing about the flies there and you Ben talking about you going up to Wyoming after the war and the winter making your feet hurt. Talking about when they had the state highway paved through here."
Charlie and Cindy said," Goodnight."
They walked down the boardwalk to the hotel and went to the elevator and after they went in Cindy was so happy.
She said," Wow, those men were so fascinating. Ben talking about his first car then heading off to Europe in WWll then getting a Model A. Talking about everything I could listen all night and we are invited for tomorrow night."
Charlie said," I remember when I didn't hardly sell anything here and Ben took me to his ranch and I was able to work for a month so I could get back to my homestead."
She said," Really?"
Charlie said," It took a month of hard work but it was worth it."
Cindy said," We have been married 10 years and there is still more things I am learning about you."
Charlie laughed and said," My life isn't easy but I wouldn't trade it with anyone."
They got to their floor and started walking to their room."
They got to the door and Charlie said," I might be able to sell some knives."
She laughed and said," Sure."
They walked in and Charlie said," It also brought back some memories these guys showed me how to effectively sell my hides knives and other things."
She said," Wow."
She brushed out her hair and got in her nightgown. Charlie put his hair down and put his leather tie on the nightstand and was in his boxers and Cindy and he slid into bed and Charlie laid down and then they kissed for about 3 or 4 minutes then Cindy laid her head on his chest then they fell asleep.