on the cooling board Who: Rodeo and Sarge Where: The Dog Park What: The Dog King and his Sergeant at Arms discuss his new pen pal. When: 5/13/18, night.
All of Rodeo's favorite days end like this-- with the fire burning his face and whiskey burning his belly, his friends divvying out their spoils, his best brother by his side and some old ladies stirring up a pot of stew. It was a prosperous day for them all. No dead men and a hearty haul to bring home, all gains with no losses. But Rodeo isn't throwing himself into the revelry, isn't joining in the raucous conversations or belting out a tune or hunting for a girl to share his bed for the night. He sits pensively by the fire, staring into its embers as he runs his thumbnail along the crease of a folded letter in his hands.
One of his crew delivered it to him when he returned from his rounds, picked up from a new location just like he had instructed. Leaving a note for the Dog King is fairly accepted practice around the city, and Rodeo is rarely stirred by any of them, but this writer is getting under his skin somehow. Something about the tone of these notes intrigues him. The handwriting is feminine yet sensible, the words are short and straightforward, the tone is plying but dignified. All of it stands out to him, but he's not sure what to make of it. Better to get a second opinion, he reckons.
So he looks over to his brother, offering out the letter for him to take. Sarge had been there when they found the others in an old auto parts shop that they frequent for supplies, but the both of them had been more interested in a display of ported stock heads than the first note, and they barely afforded it more than a snigger and a snide comment that Rodeo instructed one of the guys to jot down on a scrap of paper. Passing the store again two days later, Rodeo motioned Sarge towards the store and they returned to find the second note. Rodeo regarded this one with a bit more weight, and he dictated an actual response to a crewman while he snagged a new grip for his bike. Now they've got a third letter, and Rodeo is finding himself tempted to meet this stranger.
"More fanmail," he says to Sarge when he offers him the letter. "Coach found it in the gas station. Reckon the fucker was lookin' for more o' that pickled cod shit he tried bringin' home last week."