Boom Town Page #4

- And Mrs. Summers.

- How do you do?

Mr. Summers runs the Emporium,

the biggest store in town.

Lady Elaine is selling women's underwear.

I want you to buy till it hurts.

Don't pay any attention to him,

Mr. Summers. He's crazy.

Yes, I'm Sir Modred, the wicked knight.

Wicked knight? You're drunk.

Oh, look, it's started.

Ride him, Henry.

Sit still and sing to him.

I guess Henry can't sing.

Why, that's just like sitting

in a rocking chair.

All right, folks. Who else will ride

the Missouri Angel?

That's a cinch. All you have to do

is wrap your legs around him.

All right, go ahead.

Who, me?

Here's your next rider,

Big John McMasters.

Wait a minute. I was just...

Big John McMasters is our next rider.

You see how happy you've made them?

Yes, yes. Sir Modred is stuck.

Here, take the colors of the fair Elaine and

wear them bravely in the joust, Sir Modred.

I don't know what she's talking about,

but look after her.

She's something pretty special.

- Whoa, mule.

- He's just looking you over.

Yeah.

Sir Modred is up.

Hey, what do you got the balloon for,

Big John? Going up in the air?

- Everybody likes Big John, don't they?

- Yeah. He's high-test, ma'am.

Hey, Big John!

Sir Modred is still up.

Modred is down.

You know, I've never had so much fun

in all my life.

What do we do now?

I guess there's not much more

you can do in this town.

- Hiya, Big John.

- Oh, hi, Tom. Hi, Ed.

- Well, we'll be seeing you next summer.

- Yeah? Hey, where are you headed?

- Off to Arizona for a little wildcatting.

- Yes, sir.

And when we come back,

we'll be driving a Rolls-Royce.

Attaboy. I hope you bring in a cat

that'll really howl.

Happy days.

Tom and Ed Murphy.

I hope they get lucky and strike it.

They've been knocking at the gate

a long time.

Say, this sounds very gay.

What's in here?

No, you don't wanna go in there.

That's just a dance hall.

A bad dance hall?

Well, no, but it's a place

where fellas go on payday...

- Have you been in there?

- Sure, but...

- Well, then, you can take me.

- No, no, it's liable to be kind of rough.

Now, look,

I'm not really Little Red Riding Hood.

I came down here because I wanted

to see if... Well, I want to see all the sights.

Now, please.

Well, I'm agin it.

So holler when you've had enough.

Hello, Big John. Whitey was just asking

me where... I beg your pardon.

Hi, Hank. Good old Hank.

Well, look at all the pretty girls.

Do you know them?

Yes... That is, I mean,

not all of them, but...

- There's the dance floor. Do you dance?

- Look, here's roulette over here.

- Well, I'd rather...

- Did you ever play roulette?

Say, which one is Spanish Eva?

She's home, taking care of the kids.

Hi, lke. Five bucks on 17.

Me too. A quarter. Two bits on 17.

- Sorry, ma'am, but the limit is...

- Just this once, lke.

Hey, where you been,

you big bag of sugar?

I've been cooling my lily-white heels

for three hours waiting for you.

- Seventeen odd.

- That means we won, doesn't it?

- Yeah.

- Who's that?

- Why...

- You new here?

Yes, I arrived this evening.

She with you?

- Whitey, this is the fair Elaine, Lady Elaine.

- How are you?

Oh, yeah? And I'm Lady Astorbilt.

She's just his sister, kid.

- Give it to her, blondie.

- Come on.

Holler when you've had enough.

Come on.

After that it was just bumming around...

...logging a bit up in Alberta...

...a few years mining here and there,

then France.

Now I'm in the oil game

for good, I guess.

A woman always gets a chump

to blow his own horn, doesn't she?

Not unless she wants to hear it.

I've never been very close-hitched

to people.

That is, until I met my partner.

Right down the street there...

Say, isn't that a wonderful moon?

Yeah. That's moon enough for everybody.

- Say, what's this?

- That?

That's just oil

being pulled up out of the ground.

Here? But it looks like a church.

Sure, used to be. Look.

When the boom came,

the congregation got excited...

...and spudded in a wildcat

right under the pulpit.

Now there are churches all over the state

spreading happy days and hallelujah...

...right out of these holes.

- And ye shall rise out of the earth.

- Well, why, who's there?

- Why, glory be, it's Big John.

- Hello, Springtime.

You're out late.

I was just finishing my supper.

- How are they pumping?

- Deep and sure, John. Deep and sure.

They'll be pumping long after

I'm spudded in and part of the flow.

- Well, good night to you.

- Good night.

You know, funny guy, Springtime.

Two times a millionaire...

...once in the Pennsylvania field

and once in Louisiana.

Hired the top deck of an ocean liner

just to go to Paris.

Now he's here in Texas, broke.

But he might hit it again tomorrow.

- He seems happy, though.

- Yeah. It's a funny business.

You get away from it for a while,

go on a bust.

Then one night, you try to sleep...

...those darn pumps

start pounding in your ears.

I don't know.

Like a heartbeat.

Yeah. Sounds kind of silly, doesn't it?

Nothing is silly in church.

You sure can talk straight to a fella

and ball him up at the same time.

I'll have to sic you on my partner.

You'll like Shorty.

Everybody calls him Square John,

and he's as square as the Constitution.

But, you know, Elaine, he's been

mooning around about some dame.

Keeps writing her letters, won't talk

about her, like it was a 20-1 shot.

If I thought that much about a girl, I'd...

But it'd have to be a girl like you.

I'd want her right where

I could take ahold of her and tell her.

Right here, for instance.

I'd like to go back to the hotel.

What's the matter? What's wrong?

If you don't mind, please,

it's getting a little chilly.

Yes, it is a little, at that, I guess.

All right, come on.

- Well, good morning.

- Good morning.

Well, thank you. It's been awfully nice.

- I'll see you some more, won't I?

- No, I'm afraid not.

I just realized I have to

take the bus in the morning.

Hey, wait a minute.

- Is there another guy?

- Yes.

- You love him, huh?

- No, not this...

- Not that way, but...

- Then what are you leaving for?

Because... Goodbye.

Hey.

Come down here.

I make up my mind quick.

I made it up

when I first saw you, I guess.

You aren't ever gonna leave.

She drilled herself in.

You're rich, mister.

There's yeast in the buckwheat.

Boy, ain't that a beautiful black cloud?

Let's cap her.

She'll run all over the state.

Boy, listen to her.

She's just a-puffing and a-blowing.

Hey, wait.

Go and dig up Big John

and then find Luther.

- Hey, Shorty. What's up? Did she...?

- She blew herself in.

Five thousand barrels is a cinch.

Come on up here.

I'll be right back.

I gotta go down and send a telegram.

Honey, did you hear that?

That was Shorty.

- You married a millionaire.

- John...

...please sit down.

What? What is it? What's the matter?

Please.

I was gonna tell you later,

before we went out to the well...

...but I can't put it off any longer.

What is it?

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