Chapter 8 | Saving The Lone Ranger from Sirens
“We're a long way from Eufaula now,” says the Lone Ranger to his shadow in the trees. He's been riding all night with what's left of the moon rocks he managed to spirit away from his astronaut friend. Moon rocks hold sway in these parts, and you never know when they might come in handy. Could get you past a road block, or into the good graces of a fine looking woman. Ever since Atlas unleashed the secret of the rocks, those in possession of them could show up and disappear at will. And that suited the Lone Ranger just fine. He could ride when he wanted, disappear when he wanted, show up wherever he pleased.
The Lone Ranger kept constantly changing company, dining with poets and sculptors, partaking of delicate situations. He’d stick around long enough to make a good friend, yet never wear out his welcome. A mystery man, cowboy, stealer of hearts, he dwells on the bright side of town.
Earlier that evening, he almost rode off the face of the earth. But a woman in the moonlight, Clarissa’s her name, swooped down to rescue him. She called him away from the path he was on, away from the danger ahead. But now, mere hours later, Clarissa was simply a memory, faint as if she'd never happened. At the time, she was larger than life. “You'll die if you don't stop riding.”
“I'll die if I don't have you,” he thought. Laughing, how many times had he been warned? He wasn’t used to taking advice, certainly not from a stranger who'd dropped like a brick from the sky. “I can't stop now.” He peered over the cliff into the canyon, above the river gorge. How could he have missed it? Had he fallen asleep?
“What brings you out tonight?”
“There's a town just over that ridge. I come here for some peace, and to save an occasional passerby from the sirens.”
“They're wicked, those sirens.” A moment’s hesitation, then “what the hell.” The Lone Ranger cleared his throat. “I'm more than a little lost,” he admitted. “Can you help me find the next town?”
Clarissa shook her head. “Not really. But if you can manage to avoid falling into the gorge, keep riding towards the west. You'll make more friends along the way. Not all of them want to rob you.”
“Do you?”
“Want to rob you? No,” she laughed. “But my birthday’s coming up, you can give me a present.”
The Lone Ranger thought for a moment, then decided against giving the girl a moon rock. “Come ride with me for a while, let me think about it.”
“I barely know you, stranger. But thank you.” Turning to leave, she wished him luck. “You’d best be on your way.”
As he watched her vanish into the night, he wondered for a moment what it would be like to stop and stay. But when you're the Lone Ranger, there are things you can do, and things you can't. When you're the Lone Ranger, staying is one of the things you can't.
He took a last, long look into the river gorge, then continued to move forward through the moonlight.
