RANGO // OӘͶAЯ - Another Outlaw Story [Engl.]

43. The Spirit of the West

Glaring light hurt his eyes. It was like looking into a burning spotlight. With a pained groan, the snake pressed them together. After a while he got used to the light, but he still had to blink hard before he took a closer look. He was lying on a sandy area that seemed extremely strange to him. No big stones, and no rocks. It was like in another world. Only his hat lay next to him. The rattlesnake thrust the tip of its tail and with a weary movement he put the hat back on his head.
Gradually the snake recovered from the deep sleep. Then she struggled to straighten up and looked around. But he couldn't see a clear horizon. Just bright sunlight and a haze that floated around him like mist. When he turned around, he startled when a large, unknown white object appeared just a meter away from him.
First, he thought it was a car. But on closer inspection, he realized that this vehicle was much smaller. Like all other vehicles, it had black wheels, but the rest was rather unusual. It consisted only of a hood with a rear and front window and was without doors.
The rattlesnake was shocked again when he saw strange figures in a kind of basket. They were little men, and golden, like little statues.
Golden guardians?
Stunned these words came back to him. He crawled around the strange white vehicle.
White. Alabaster? The alabaster carriage?
Hadn't the armadillo been talking about that? But if these were the first items, whom did they belong to? Was it...?
When his gaze wandered further forward, his reptilian heart almost stopped. A man stood not far away. With a hat and cape. And dusty clothes.
Could this be who the armadillo was talking about?
The Spirit of the West?
Reluctantly, he crept closer to the man. He had turned his back on him and seemed to be scanning the floor for something.
The rattlesnake took a deep breath and did something what he had never dared to do before.
He was trying to talk to a human.
"H-hello? Excuse me..."
At that moment the man bent down and picked something up from the floor.
"Ah, there's a beaut," were his first rough words. They sounded almost thoughtful and thoughtful.
Jake craned his neck and saw that the human was holding a fishing hook. He also noticed the device that he was carrying with him now. It was a metal detector.
"Sometimes you got to dig deep to find what you're looking for", the western man continued. His eyes shifted to the rattlesnake behind him. "So you made it."
The rattlesnake swallowed. Usually, he always fled immediately when humans came near, but here he felt no reason to be afraid, which is why he dared to continue the dialogue.
"What are you doing out here?" He asked.
"Searching," the men replied and put the fishing hook which he had found in a collecting box. "Same as you."
Jake looked down. "I don't... I don't even know what I'm looking for any more. All what I wanted was a quiet life. But they don't let me."
There was a pause and Jake dared to ask another question.
"So you are the Spirit of the West?"
It sounded rather skeptically.
The man stood up and tucked the collected fishing hooks under his shirt.
"These days they got a name for just about everything."
He swung the metal detector on his shoulder and turned to the rattlesnake.
"But doesn't matter what they call you. It's the deeds make the man."
With that, he walked past the snake to his alabaster-colored car.
"Yeah, but my deeds just made things worse," Jake replied. "They believed in me, but now I've somehow disappointed them. Somehow they need some kind of hero."
"Then be a hero."
The snake snorted. "The last time I tried to help others, I was convicted. I am a snake Something that nobody wants to have in their neighborhood. I will always be hated for that. I'm only an image of evil. Basically, I'm not even supposed to be here."
"That's right," the Spirit of the West continued and sat down in the little car. "You came a long way to find something that isn't out here. Don't you see? This is not about you. It's about them."
The rattlesnake looked at him absently. "But I can't go back. That would be my end."
"Then why did you want to commit suicide instead?"
That silenced the snake.
The man raised the corners of his mouth a little. "So, don't know that you got a choice. It's not the time for your death. There are still some who need you. No man can walk out on his own story."
With that the little car started, drove off, steered it in a curve and drove out into the desert. As soon as he disappeared into the haze, the air became clearer again and the vast plains of Death Valley stretched out in its lonely splendor. The sky shone in the sun, only a few scattered clouds moved across the sky.
"So you made it," a rough old voice said from behind him.
In surprise, the rattlesnake turned around. It was the armadillo.
"That's right, amigo," the armadillo continued. "The other side of the road."
Jake's mouth stayed open for a moment. "How did you...?"
He didn't finish the sentence. Somehow, he was no longer surprised. That was a crazy place.
His gaze wandered back in the direction in which the man with the white car had disappeared.
"Did you just see that?"
"We each see what we need to see," the armadillo said good-naturedly. Then he nodded with his head forward. "Beautiful, isn't it?"
Both looked out over the peaceful barren landscape. It was all extremely lonely, and yet so beautifully untouched.
Jake sighed deeply. "Yeah, it is."
"Come, my friend," the armadillo said. "I want to show you something."
Together they walked through the hot country until they arrived at a strange place. Not seeing my Jake properly at first, or his senses would be deceiving him. But an old fishing boat was actually stuck in the desert floor.
"Many years ago, this entire valley was covered in agua," the armadillo said. "Now only one question remains..."
He didn't speak on, but gave Jake time to finish the sentence for him.
"Where did it go?"
His gaze wandered to the side, where not far away was one of the large dried-up cactuses. The snake looked up at the plant.
The sight of the so-called walking cactus made him think of the circle on Stumps ranch that had been drawn around the cactus. What had Coral told him about the old legend? They would run across the desert looking for the water.
Suddenly the cactus began to move gently, as if it were directing its "head" in a certain direction. Jake's eyes wandered down.
The roots of the cactus came to life and began to move.
The cactus moved. Like an octopus in the sand.
The snake watched as if spellbound as the cactus crawled centimeter by centimeter. And just a little further back, many more of these plants did the same thing. As if they were following a call.
Following something.
"They follow the water," the rattlesnake muttered, completely confused. "They follow the water!"
Immediately he set off to chase their route. The armadillo stayed close on his heels. The cacti continued to wander over a range of hills and came to a halt further up.
When Jake had finally reached the highest hill, he stopped dead in place. A huge human city stretches out in front of him in a valley.
Las Vegas.
Shops, skyscrapers and the famous casinos everywhere.
In the run-up to the urban area there was a golf course with a wide lawn, which was watered by many sprinkling systems.
Water.
From the town a large pipe led up to the hill.
Jake was hypnotized by the sight.
Gradually everything became clear to him.
With everything he knew from the desert.
"I curse you! I curse the whole town!"
The tracks on Joel's ranch. It was the smell of water.
"A bloody day. After that the town was pursued by bad luck."
"How long has the drought been here?" "Over nine years."
"Unfortunately, the plans of the pipelines were stolen 10 years ago."
"And to tell the truth, I never smelled a trace of water in the pipes."
Jake's train of thought ended in a disturbing black-out.
Still stunned, he stared at the city that human hands had created.
"Control the water, and you control everything," he muttered John's words, which his wife had told him.
What if someone took advantage of this principle?
His gaze wandered along the pipe. He crawled slowly towards it. Inside it rumbled and splashed. He could almost feel the concentrated power of the water in the pipe.
At that moment one of the cacti slammed against the pipe while running. Further up on a hill, several cacti had gathered around something in a circle, to which another small pipe led up.
The snake quickly crept up to them. Closely followed by the armadillo.
When they reached the top, they saw a steel construction that looked like a large rotary tap protruding from the ground. At the foot of this frame was a sign that said: Emergency shut-off valve 6.
His gaze wandered over the floor, where he discovered several shoe prints in the sand. He leaned down and licked with his tongue over it.
His pupils narrowed. That was it. Not it all made sense.
"Now what, amigo?" The armadillo's voice echoed through his mind.
Slowly the snake rose and looked back into the desert.
He only knew one person who left such marks on the sand.
No man can walk out on his own story.
"I'm going back."
"But why?" the armadillo asked.
"Because that's who I want to be."
His eyes narrowed.
And because I know who is responsible for all of this.

"Beans!" Joel ordered. "Give me the tongs."
He sat in the barn next to thin pipelines and was busy to fix them.
His daughter Beans handed the instrument tool, while Rice her sister was standing next to them and watched everything.
"Don't you want to think about it once again?" she tried to change her father's mind.
"Keep quiet!" He snapped at her. "And if I find you in town again, I'll lock you up in your room!"
She stamped angrily. "Why am I not allowed to go there? Do you want me to die a virgin?"
Her father got up grumbling. "Fine, at some point you may get to meet someone... But nobody from this city!"
With the tongs in hand, he went to the toolbox from which Beans had taken the pliers.
"I will take the last water from them. It's bad enough that my own daughter betrayed me!"
Rice looked at the ground with a stubborn face. There was just no point in talking to him about it now. But one topic just couldn't get out of her head.
"But when they have no water anymore, they either die of thirst or they have to move away."
Her father put the tools away. "That's the point of the matter. We, however, will stay here. We have collected enough water in our tanks that it will enough for us forever."
"But father," she tried again, while her sister Beans stood tensed. "Don't you think they have suffered enough?"
The old lizard lifted his head. "Enough?" Joel turned red with rage. "Nothing is enough. It will never be enough."
Rice swallowed hard. "But it was an accident."
Joel grabbed her arm angrily. "Come with me!"
With these words he dragged his daughter near the house, where there was a grave with a large gravestone next to it, on which stood in large letters: To my beloved wife Josephine.
The old lizard pointed hard at the grave. "Look here! Look at her grave. Tell your mother what you think!"
Rice looked sad and angry at the same time at her mother's tombstone.
"She loved the city," she said. "Do you think she would be proud of what you are doing to them?"
Joel growled angrily. "I knew your mother better than you! Only when the city disappears, she can rest in peace forever. I sacrificed everything for that. I even stole the plans for the pipelines so that they would never find out."
Rice stared at her father in disbelief. "Maybe the new sheriff was right, and you're really just a stubborn old man."
"That's enough now! Go to your room!"
She turned her back on him angrily. "I knew it. I thought I could talk to you, but I was wrong."
With quick steps she hurried away. Beans followed her and caught up with her in front of the courtyard. "Rice! Please don't get so upset."
"I shouldn't get upset?" With a jerk she turned to her sister. "We are being threatened by stagnate here forever, and the city is dying out - and you tell me not to get upset?! I'm so sick of that here!"
Beans shook his head wistfully. "But it has no use of getting upset about it. That's not the end of the world..."
She paused when she suddenly heard a thunderous trampling. But the reaction of the two sisters came too late. In the next instant riders appeared and tore them on their roadrunners.
"Hey! What's that supposed to be?!"
The two sisters struggled like crazy, but they were powerless against the strong grips of the Jenkins riders. They were dragged onto their saddles with loud screams.
Joel, who was running up, wanted to open the fire with his rifle immediately, but one of the riders reacted quickly and shot the old lizard in the leg.
With a scream, the lizard sank to the ground while the Jenkins gang galloped away with the two girls.
Groaning, Joel held his bleeding leg and saw the riders disappear behind the hills.
"BEANS! RICE!"