I wondered if you'd go with El Dorado, or if you had something else in mind and were just throwing me off the scent :)
El Dorado There was silence for a while while Ben and I thought about that. Then, as Elizabethtown heaved into view, and I realised with a slightly sinking feeling that "town" was rather a misnomer -- Elizabethshanty might have been more realistic -- Ben spoke. "Doesn't sound practical," he said. "Building out of gold isn't a good idea; it's soft and it's gonna get mighty hot inside a metal building out here. Even if you put it where it gets good shade for most of the day, you've still got to have unshaded land where you grow food." "Cities are big," I said. I was still looking at Elizabethtown in dismay and wondering if they had a bar anywhere. I couldn't imagine they'd have running water, but maybe there was a bathtub I could rent for an hour or so. "That's a lot of gold. On the one hand I want to know where anyone would find that much gold that they could think of building El Dorado with it, and on the other I'm thinking that those people probably wouldn't miss a small church if it upped and wandered off." "Heh," Ben liked that. "I'd like to see that. And be the one instructing it on where to go, of course." "I can't quite see you being the lucky recipient of the Divine Word," I said. "Something about those cigars you smoke." "The Lord moves in mysterious ways," said Ben, looking upwards and pretending to be pious. Jimmy was laughing so hard at this point that he fell off his burro, which wasn't something I've seen a grown man do before when he wasn't so blind drunk that he thought it was a wall. He bumped a little downhill; the slope was steepening, but not so much that he couldn't arrest his tumble and haul himself back up. "Agreed," he said, gasping for breath and trying to knock the white-yellow dust off of himself. "I don't see it building a whole bunch of buildings made of gold neither, Ben. I reckon it's either gold plating on the buildings, like you get on cathedrals in Europe, or there's just a lot of gold statues and ornaments and--"
"Fripperies and fritilleries," said Ben. "Gew-gaws, knick-knacks and thingumabobs." "Exactly. But so many of them that it's all anyone who goes there thinks about and sees." There was another silence while the burros plodded steadily downhill, and the buildings of Elizabethhovel got more visible and I got more depressed by them. I hadn't been expecting a lot, but I could count maybe twenty buildings, largely wooden and not looking like they were well-put together neither. Behind the town there was a stretch of land that then dipped down again out of sight, and I reckoned that's where the Gulch was; after that it was a tree-littered slope up the next mountain. "Could be," I said, to take my mind of what we were approaching. "Makes sense if you think about it. And El Dorado sounds better than City of Gold, which sounds a lot more impressive than Hamlet with some Jewelry." Ben looked out at Elizabethghetto and inclined his head. "I think I can see why you might be suggesting that name," he said. "Jimmy, has there here town got a bar at least? Because I've seen better housing in a California ranch prison." Jimmy's eyes widened just a little at that, even though he's hung around with us plenty before, and I grinned a little. "That would have been when we were hired to bring back a kidnapped son," I said. "There was a gentleman up in Seattle who figured he knew where the kid had gone and why and asked us to go and bring him back. There was a bit of trouble with a cowboy with a wooden leg, and after a bit of mistaken identity we ended up bringing back a chain of stable-hands for the gentleman to identify his son from." "Did he identify him?" "He chose four of them," said Ben dryly. "We didn't ask."
3 comments:
I wondered if you'd go with El Dorado, or if you had something else in mind and were just throwing me off the scent :)
El Dorado
There was silence for a while while Ben and I thought about that. Then, as Elizabethtown heaved into view, and I realised with a slightly sinking feeling that "town" was rather a misnomer -- Elizabethshanty might have been more realistic -- Ben spoke.
"Doesn't sound practical," he said. "Building out of gold isn't a good idea; it's soft and it's gonna get mighty hot inside a metal building out here. Even if you put it where it gets good shade for most of the day, you've still got to have unshaded land where you grow food."
"Cities are big," I said. I was still looking at Elizabethtown in dismay and wondering if they had a bar anywhere. I couldn't imagine they'd have running water, but maybe there was a bathtub I could rent for an hour or so. "That's a lot of gold. On the one hand I want to know where anyone would find that much gold that they could think of building El Dorado with it, and on the other I'm thinking that those people probably wouldn't miss a small church if it upped and wandered off."
"Heh," Ben liked that. "I'd like to see that. And be the one instructing it on where to go, of course."
"I can't quite see you being the lucky recipient of the Divine Word," I said. "Something about those cigars you smoke."
"The Lord moves in mysterious ways," said Ben, looking upwards and pretending to be pious.
Jimmy was laughing so hard at this point that he fell off his burro, which wasn't something I've seen a grown man do before when he wasn't so blind drunk that he thought it was a wall. He bumped a little downhill; the slope was steepening, but not so much that he couldn't arrest his tumble and haul himself back up. "Agreed," he said, gasping for breath and trying to knock the white-yellow dust off of himself. "I don't see it building a whole bunch of buildings made of gold neither, Ben. I reckon it's either gold plating on the buildings, like you get on cathedrals in Europe, or there's just a lot of gold statues and ornaments and--"
"Fripperies and fritilleries," said Ben. "Gew-gaws, knick-knacks and thingumabobs."
"Exactly. But so many of them that it's all anyone who goes there thinks about and sees."
There was another silence while the burros plodded steadily downhill, and the buildings of Elizabethhovel got more visible and I got more depressed by them. I hadn't been expecting a lot, but I could count maybe twenty buildings, largely wooden and not looking like they were well-put together neither. Behind the town there was a stretch of land that then dipped down again out of sight, and I reckoned that's where the Gulch was; after that it was a tree-littered slope up the next mountain.
"Could be," I said, to take my mind of what we were approaching. "Makes sense if you think about it. And El Dorado sounds better than City of Gold, which sounds a lot more impressive than Hamlet with some Jewelry."
Ben looked out at Elizabethghetto and inclined his head. "I think I can see why you might be suggesting that name," he said. "Jimmy, has there here town got a bar at least? Because I've seen better housing in a California ranch prison."
Jimmy's eyes widened just a little at that, even though he's hung around with us plenty before, and I grinned a little. "That would have been when we were hired to bring back a kidnapped son," I said. "There was a gentleman up in Seattle who figured he knew where the kid had gone and why and asked us to go and bring him back. There was a bit of trouble with a cowboy with a wooden leg, and after a bit of mistaken identity we ended up bringing back a chain of stable-hands for the gentleman to identify his son from."
"Did he identify him?"
"He chose four of them," said Ben dryly. "We didn't ask."
Greg - sometimes I pick the low hanging fruit :)
I like the steadily evolving (devolving might be the better word) name of the town. Also: I will never tire of the back stories these guys have.
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