Copyright 1999 by (name withheld, but known to page owner)

Sheriff Roy (Teabag) Tetley sat at the little wooden desk near the front of his one-room office and jail, laboriously filling out reports by candle light. Though it was nine o’clock in the evening and dark outside, it was much too hot and humid to use the kerosene lantern that hung above and to his right. A half-eaten donut lay between his papers and a coffee mug that looked as though it hadn’t been washed since spring – perhaps of the previous year.

Nine o’clock marked the beginning of the night shift, manned by Chester, his limp-walking deputy of many years. On most nights, Roy would have locked up and gone home two hours before, leaving the office unattended until Chester arrived at nine, but tonight they had two "guests" in the jail cell. The beautiful, but dangerous, Clanton sisters, Sadie and Caligula, had been caught that morning just outside the local branch of the Agricultural, Technical and Mechanical Bank.. They were wanted for bank jobs all over the territory but had boldly ignored the warning signs at the town line that said, "Criminals don’t get far in our town."

Sadie and Caligula were getting impatient for the evening meal, which had been due a couple of hours ago, but they had long since given up shouting and complaining to Sherrif Tetley. He was a bit hard of hearing so he didn’t hear most of their complaints, and, when he did, he just laughed and said, "You were warned you wouldn’t get far in this town, you’re bellyaching won’t get you dinner either."

Just then the door burst open. Deputy Chester limped in, carrying a kerosene lantern in one hand and a precariously balanced, cloth-covered tray in the other.

"Well here it is, grub for our distinguished guests. Better late than never," he said.

Sheriff Tetley rose slowly from his desk, took the lantern from Chester and placed it on the desk. Chester put the tray down on the same desk.

"Its about time," whined Sadie. "Hey come on, don’t keep us wait’n any longer. We’re starv’n in here."

"Come on Chester, Get a move on," added Caligula impatiently.

"Keep quiet back there, you’ll get fed," the sheriff ordered, "Well Chet, its been a long day. I’m going home. See you in the morning Teabag….Be careful."

I’ll be careful," Chester answered. "See ya."

The sheriff picked up the lantern and walked out the door, closing it cwerfully behind himself.

Chester forgot about his prisoners for a moment, he had spent a long time waiting at the saloon for the prisoner’s meal to be ready and his bad leg was hurting a bit. He picked up the half-eaten donut on the desk and took a bite of it.

"Come on Chester, we’re hungry," said Sadie.

Chester looked over at the jail cell and smiled smugly. "You’re also prisoners. You’ll get fed, but every time I hear you complain I just seem to forget where I put your food."

Sadie and Caligula both started to tell Chester he was just stupid and lazy and that the food was right in front of him, but then thought better of it and held their tongues.

Chester finished the donut, then poured himself a cup of lukewarm coffee from a pot that had probably been made the night before. He gagged and grimaced at its bitteness, "Now that’s coffee," he said out loud to himself.

Finally, Chester decided to give the prisoners their food. He slowly got up, picked up the tray, and walked over to the cell door. "Well, here’s you’re grub," he said, bending down to pass the tray under the door.

Suddenly, Caligula lunged toward Chester, grabbed him by his belt and pulled him up against the cell bars.

"What?" exclaimed Chester in surprise.

In a split second, Caligula took Chester’s gun from its holster and Sadie ripped the cell keys from his belt hook.

"What was that you said awhile back," taunted Sadie. "Something about being careful?"

"Relax, Chester, Just so as you’re told and we won’t hurt you," said Caligula.

"What ever you say, Miss Clanton," responded Chester immediately. "What ever you say."

Sadie then unlocked the cell door and opened it. The sisters stepped outside and indicated for Chester to go in. He did so immediately and without objection.

"It ain’t like we don’t appreciate you’re hospitality, Chester," said Sadie. "But this ain’t exactly the Waldorf."

"As for that slop," she added, pointing to the tray of food, "you eat it."

Caligula taunted Chester further, saying, "Yea, we’re just gonna go for a little walk, Chester. Don’t worry if we not back for awhile."

"I won’t worry," answered Chester with just a tinge of sadness in his voice. "You won’t get far."

Sadie began fitting a cloth around Chester’s head, making a gag but not yet putting it across his mouth, "Oh, I don' t know about that. You ain’t gonna be able to call for help and it’ll be ten or eleven hours before anyone but you knows we’re gone," she said.

"By then we’ll be long gone," added Caligula.

"You won’t get far," Chester said once again.

"Like Cali said, we’ll be long gone before morning," taunted Sadie.

"Probably so," answered Chester. "Probably so. I’m afraid so."

Sadie then put the gag into Chester’s mouth. The sisters then moved to the front door and opened it slightly, discovering the street outside to be very well lit and occupied. They closed the door immediately.

"There’s too many people out there and its too well lit," said Sadie.

"We’ll just use the back door," answered Caligula. "Convenient of them to put in a back door, wasn’t it."

Sadie and Caligula crossed the small office to the back door and opened it. Then they waved to Chester and went outside.

They were free. Now all they had to do was get away from town as far as possible before the jailbreak was discovered.

Out into the night they went, heading east toward the rising full moon through forest that grew right up to the back door of the jail. They moved as quickly as they could in the darkness and within minutes the sweltering heat had them drenched in perspiration. Urgently. they drove themselves through the woods, their way becoming increasingly difficult as they crashed and fought through thick undergrowth. Several times one or both of them would trip as unseen roots or vines caught their feet.

After an hour and a half they stopped for a brief rest.

"You know where you’re goin’?" asked Sadie, betraying more than a touch of concern.

"Sort of." Answered Caligula.

"What do you mean, sort of?" asked Sadie, now more concerned.

"Well when we came out of the jail the moon was straight ahead. It still is, so we’re goin’ in a straight line away from that town and more or less east," answered Caligula.

"And where does that take us?" asked Sadie.

"That’s what I’m not sure of," answered Caligula. "But its away from that town."

The two sisters began to move forward again. The moon was now higher in the sky and would soon become useless for finding their bearings. To make matters worse, the stars could only rarely be seen through the thick foliage overhead. For another hour they struggled but progress through the thick tangle of vegetation was very difficult. They were only a few yards apart but they could not see each other and could only stay in touch by talking. Worse yet, they were in a swampy area and the mosquitoes were very numerous and aggressive.

"Oh, no, my shoe," Caligula suddenly said. "Sadie, stop, my foot is stuck."

"What? Hang on, I’m coming," answered Sadie.

"No its all right… I just stepped in some mud. I’m free now," Caligula said. "Keep going.."

"How far do you figure we’ve come from town," asked Sadie.

"Hard to tell in the dark, but not very far. Maybe a half mile," Caligula answered.

"Do you think they have dogs?" Sadie asked.

"I doubt it. Don’t worry about it," Caligula answered. "Come on, no more worrisome questions…. Let’s keep moving."

In a few minutes they were on higher, clearer ground. Here they could move much more quickly and did so. More or less side by side and a hald dozen yards apart, they began to almost run, aware they had to put distance between themselves and the town, whose sheriff would certainly and quickly put together a posse to pursue them in the morning. The ground was quite irregular. They climbed up and embankment, crossed a level spot, then crashed down an embankment. Then it was up again for six or eight feet, level, and down again.

Suddenly there was a loud splash as Caligula fell forward into a chest-deep puddle of leaf-covered water. Taken by surprise she came up gagging and coughing. "Oh, ick!," she sputtered.

"You all right," called Sadie.

"Yeah…. Yeah, just stepped into a big hole full of water, that’s all.," Caligula reassured her while hauling herself up the opposite embankment. "Probably picked up a body full of leaches… Come on, let’s keep going."

Sadie took a few steps forward and down another embankment. One step later her left foot suddenly plunged half way to her knee into soft mud. The right foot went in just to the ankle.

"Oh, yuck," she shouted.

Caligula continued moving forward, ignoring her sister’s exclamation.

Sadie was momentarily stuck, but managed to pull her left foot free without the right going any deeper. Just as she did so, however, she lost her balance and started to fall forward. She stepped forward to catch herself but this time her foot plunged in well past the knee." "Eeeeeeeiiiiieeeee," she screamed. "Cali, help!"

Caligula immediately turned toward the sound of Caligula’s voice. She took a few hurried steps and suddenly slid down the embankment, plunging waist deep in the same mud hole, just ten feet away.

"Oooooohhhh, Ugggh!," cried.Caligula "What’s this?"

"Cali, I think this is quicksand," Sadie quivered.

"Quicksand?" Oh, Oh, No, No, No." screamed Caligula.

The two of them thrashed about in the mud and darkness, but their struggles just drove them rapidly deeper into the muck. Within a few seconds they were both chest deep.

"Cali, help me," cried Sadie.

"Sadie, save me," came the response.

Neither sister could help herself, let alone the other, but they continued to cry out to each other for help.

For a while they calmed down, instinctively knowing that struggling only made them sink faster. The mud seemed to provide support when they did not move but they had to move to breathe, so very gradually they sank deeper and deeper. By the time they were about neck deep neither could resist the desperate urge to struggle and they began to sink slightly more rapidly. Caligula went under first, her head tipped back in a desperate reach for one last breath. Several times she kicked with her feet and was able to lunge upward to get a partial breath after the mire partially covered her mouth and nose, but eventually her efforts failed.

Sadie watched in revulsion and terror as her sister’s eyes and then the top of her head disappeared into the ooze. She did not have time to grieve, of course. She was already up to her own mouth in the quicksand.

"No, not me! No No!, Ooooohhhh." Was all she had time for before she too began to choke and gag on the mud filling her mouth and covering her nose. Like her sister, she tilted her head back and tried to use her legs to lift her mouth clear of the mire, but in less than a minute she was completely engulfed.

• - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"What happened" Roy said, asking the obvious.

"I got careless Roy. They got my gun and got out. But they won’t get far."

"Go out and ring the fire bell. We’ll get a posse up," Roy directed.

"It’s okay Roy. Chester repeated. "They won’t get far… They went out the back."