11.3.2005

            Billiam was a large mammal.  He was easily a head taller than anyone on the Arroyo Express Stagecoach.  As the only male (Discounting dear Helen, of course) employee, he was esentially the muscle. 

Billiam understood his role as plainly as he understood the roles of his mates.    Moretta was officially the boss.  She was the one who answered to the Dragon if a person or package under contract (verbal or otherwise) failed to reach its destination.  Juana kept things moving; she was the caretaker of the beasts that pulled the coach.  Helen, he was sure, was a spy from the Dragon, though she posed as a flighty shotgunner. 

Only one thing bothered him.  A saying from childhood that he still did not quite understand.  “Why nuke Texas?  Because it’s the biggest.”  Billiam did not want to be nuked.  You could not go through Texas any more.  Wasteland travelers had to go around the once colossal state.  It had only been a suitcase nuke, but it had done the job.