[[ oom : el paso, texas ]]

[almosthonorable]

[ "I'm just here lookin' for steady work, and prayin' I find it." ]

Blending in is almost too easy.

Simple is as simple does: Under the name Thomas Cowan, Ben takes care not to dress too fine, or too raggedy. The pistol he wears at his hip is plain, nowhere near the quality of his beloved Colt. After a haircut, and without his customary beard, he looks almost nothing akin to his wanted posters or those damned dime-novel likenesses.

Four days after he rents his room at the Acme — two days after a profitable bartending shift in Milliways — he accepts just the job he was hoping to land.

Thomas Cowan, widower and former rancher, is now a carpenter in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad.