Morning Glory Read Online Free PDF

under my roof. Oil
well trash doesn't stay at the Morning Glory. I'll get the
sheriff and he'll make you leave. His office is only a
couple of doors down the street"
    "I'll be waiting right here." Briar popped the whole
cookie in his mouth. Not bad, but entirely too small. It
should have been at least as big as a man's palm.
    Clara pointed at Tilly. "Don't you let him go anywhere. Most especially back to my house"
    "Wouldn't think of it, darlin', but do hurry. I've still
got work to take care of tonight and I don't want to
miss a single minute of the fight," Tilly said.
    "So you're really a roustabout?" Tucker said after
Clara had slammed the door so hard the building rattled.
    "Yes, I am," Briar said.
    "Clara hates oil men. Tilly's not too fond of them
and I'm right behind her," Tucker said. "Just thought
I'd set you straight."
    Briar reached for another cookie. "I figured she had
something against preachers the way Dulcie talked. No
one asked if I was working for an oil company."
    "She hates preachers and oil riffraff equally," Tilly said. "Preachers, because one broke her heart. Oil men,
because they've disrupted her perfect world."

    Before anyone could say anything else, Clara slung
open the door and literally dragged an older man into
the room by his shirt sleeve. "This is the sorry culprit
who needs to be evicted from my house" She pointed
at Briar.
    "Good evening, sir. I'm Briar Nelson and I do indeed
work for an oil company" Briar laid his napkin and cup
on the table and extended his hand toward the sheriff.
"I rented a room this morning at the Morning Glory
Inn. Paid my money for two months and signed a legal
lease on the room. It does not state anywhere on the
lease that if I work in the oil wells, I can't live there. It
does say that if I'm not in by ten o'clock at night my
lease can be revoked. Right now it is nine-fifteen, and I
do intend to be in my room by ten."
    "That true, Clara?" the sheriff asked.
    Clara crossed her arms over her chest, making a platform for an ample bosom, and glared at Briar. "Yes, it's
true, but I want him out of my house. And you're going
to put him out."
    The sheriff rubbed his chin. The man had a firm
handshake. Looked him right in the eye when he
explained the lease. Talked intelligently. Didn't seem
like the kind who'd kill all those old maids in their
sleep or rob Dulcie of a ham or two. "I can't. He's
signed the paper and if it doesn't say anything about
what a man does for a living and that's the only reason you've got for wanting him gone, then I guess he's
going to stay. I'll read the lease tomorrow morning, but
I expect you got yourself a boarder for two months."

    "This is ridiculous," she stormed.
    "Yes, it is," Briar said. "If you want to dictate what
kind of work a man does, then you'd better change your
lease when I leave"
    Clara shot icy cold daggers from her blue eyes
across the room at him. "Oh, you can be sure I will.
And you just try crawling in from your sinful living one
minute past ten o'clock and I'll have you out of my
house so fast you'll wonder if you ever ate a piece of
Dulcie's chicken. Why don't you just leave? You know
you're not wanted."
    "Because I like it there. It's clean and Dulcie is a
good cook. I can live with a shrew like you to get those
things. I've lived with worse. Now, if you'll excuse me,
I'll take my sinful self home to bed. Wouldn't want to
be late," Briar said.
    "Honey, you just think you've lived with worse.
You've just signed on for two months of pure hell,"
Clara said.
    "Been there. Seen that. Don't scare me no more," he
said seriously, leaving the bunch of them staring at the
door he closed behind him.

     

    Alonesome whippoorwill sang a solo outside
Briar's open window that night. He wondered if Clara
was lying awake listening to the same melody. Clara,
who'd snubbed her nose at him, tried to evict him and
generally hated him. He should crawl out of bed, pack
his suitcase and