The Story of the Printer Horace
I would suggest reading The Bit of Crazy Cowboy in Paz before venturing this part of the story
The Crazy Cowboy had come to town with no family and was looking for work. The Printer Horace, who published a weekly paper, gave him a spot sleeping in a corner of the first floor of the two floor printing house. The first floor was the shop and the second was the the Printer's room. Crazy Cowboy was not allowed to go up there, and he respected that and the man who gave him work and a place to sleep, although cramp from it being in a corner with a lot of printing supplies. The weekly paper, named the "San Antonia Weekly Press" was subscribed to by most of the town, and the rest of the people just bought it by the issue. The Printer was the editor, sole staff writer, and printer and Crazy was the distributor, pushing a cart of papers to the houses of people who bought them and picking up subscription fees every once in a while. The system worked well, and it would seem that the Printer Horace was getting rich off of it.
Being the only printer in town, he was asked to due duties beyond printing papers, such as leaflets or books that the rich people had written, and he charged a ton for that. On top of that, the subscription fee for the paper was about a nickel more than he needed it to be. He had been doing some very dirty business practices. He would pay off just enough to debt so he could keep his money, as he was a very greedy man (but also a good one to take Crazy in), and eventually, he buried it. He was going to run off, back to the East Coast.
One early dawn, the the Printer Horace and Crazy Cowboy ventured out 10 or so miles outside of San Antonia, with papers rolled up with money. More money that Crazy Cowboy could count or imagine. Crazy had been sleeping since they had left San Antonia, he could not see the town or any landmarks he knew. Crazy could hear a little pond nearby, or at least he could smell the water. Out in the desert, water brings up the senses. The details that had been provided of the Printer's past by him were shaded when he arrived in San Antonia. He had said he had been a painter back in Ohio, and he had left it at that. The Printer Horace was a lonely guy and opened up to Crazy.
Crazy, boy, you gotta listen to me. We are out here, we are going to bury this money, and then, we are going to go back to town, and we are going to come back here in a few days, and dig the money up, and then get back to the East Coast. It is going to be you and me. Because, boy, I have some bad news, we cannot stay here long. US Marshalls have gotten smart to me being in San Antonia, and it is not going to work out. I robbed a few banks back East, and I came out here looking for peace and quiet. I am taking you along, because I cannot have you speak. Not that you would, but then Marshalls, they would break you, and you would speak even if your mouth was sewn shut.
Crazy Cowboy was speechless, helped the Robber Printer Horace put all his money down into the hole, cover it up, and ride back to San Antonia. Crazy had no idea where the money was, except that it was a bit away from town, and the Printer Horace had left a big flat stone to mark where it was, but it was a bit covered up with sand, which the wind would probably blow away from it being such a thin cover. Crazy could still not understand how he was a bank robber, he was so old. Crazy tried to imagine the Robber Horace at a younger age, robbing banks. His name probably wasn't even Horace! Crazy fell asleep on the way back to town. It was as if he was blindfolded as he went out there to bury the money.
The next day, as Crazy was out on his distributing the paper, the Printer Horace was in the shop drinking his tea and making a book for Georgia Juper on etiquette and such. While laying the book out for press, the Printer drank some ink which was laying next to his tea. He was gasping for air as it cloaked his throat, slamming down on his printing press. The press shook the store and materials that were lining walls fell and blocked the entrance to the front. He tried to move them, but suffocated in that time. Crazy came back walking with his best friend, Henry Carver, and they discovered the jam of the door. Two hours later, the whole town had found out that the Printer was dead. Crazy tried to run the paper on his own, but he just couldn't and no one else knew how to do it. The debt ran up to high and the bank of San Antonia took the shop.
Crazy was left with nothing. Every place he looked for a house or work did not want the bad luck that seemed to follow him everywhere from his parents being killed to the Printer Horace dying and running up all the debt. Horace's money still laid under the stone slab marker, which the now dead printer only knew where it was from town. Crazy did not tell anyone, as he had promised the Printer before he had so sadly passed away, and did not make any difference because only "there is a lot money under a slab of rock outside of San Antonia" is not going to help much. Crazy left San Antonia and headed South, filled with slight hatred for all those people who wouldn't give him a chance to stay in town, except for Henry Carver.
Comments
I thought his name was printer Horce
Posted by: DHI | March 27, 2004 05:38 PM