Francis: You will never be a good singing cowboy!
Tex: How would you know?
Francis: Because I am a psychic.
Tex: I know that. Well, we're here, and that's my darlin' Rosie steppin' outta the schoolhouse.
Rosie: Tex! You've been gone for years! Where have you been?
Tex: Still trackin' the Driscoll Gang. You wouldn't believe how many people are named Driscoll in this country.
Rosie: And who's your friend?
Tex: Danged if I know. People call him Pancho; other people call him Cisco...
Francis: My name is Francis, senorita.
Rosie: Tex, Pancho and Cisco are both nicknames for Francis.
Tex: Well, I just call him Sidekick. He was recommended by a barkeep in Abilene. I asked where I could find a good sidekick t'help me round up all the Driscolls and the barkeep sent me next door. There was a sign, said, "Gifted Francisco, Psychic", and I reckoned it close enough no matter how they spelled it.
Rosie: It can make a difference, Tex. What did your parents name you before you before you got stuck with "Tex"?
Tex (thinks hard for a while): Henry! I believe my name is Henry!
Rosie: Might there also be some confusion between "sidekick" and "psychic"?
Francis: Excuse him, Senorita Rosie. He needs me to foresee his future mistakes --of which there are many.
Rosie: Very well, but...but Tex, Henry, O Henry, couldn't you change your career to something safer? You've had so many adventures. Perhaps I could help you become a writer!
Francis: Yes, I see it growing more and more probable! The knight without armor, "The Caballero's Way"! Tell him!
Rosie: My poor Tex, O Henry, confused all this time by sidekick and Psychic.
Francis (riding off at a gallop down Main Street): ¡Ándale, Loco, let's went!
And in the distance the image divides into two riders who shout, "Oh Pancho!" and "Oh Cisco!" and, if your hearing is very good, "O. Henry!", followed by rapid hoof-beats and laughter.
O, this is good! So glad to make the acquaintance of Tex and Rosie. They do remind me of my long ago youth. And the introduction of Francis revives one of my great kid hood memories. We were on vacation and in a restaurant when in comes Duncan Renaldo, in costume. O, Cisco, for real. I still have the autograph.
ReplyDeleteWow, Tom! Lucky you! You got to meet one of my childhood heroes and still have the autograph. Wow!
DeleteO My. I think Rosie has her work cut out for her with Tex ... um .... O Henry. I DO remember The Cisco Kid....why were all the shows Westerns...Hop ALong Cassidy, The Lone Ranger, Roy and Dale, Gene Autry the Singing Cowboy, all the way up to Bonanza. I still can't sit down and watch a Western. I've had way too many of them lol.
ReplyDeleteThey sure were fun shows, Delores. Even the horses became iconic characters --Roy & Dale with Trigger and Buttermilk, and sidekick Pat Buttram's horse that was actually a jeep named Nellybelle.
DeleteRosie and Tex are delightful in both of these funny posts, Geo! You have made my waking up brain sharpen and smile this morning ~ over your words and all the memories they poke. I've missed your posts ~ bit it's been quite a summer! I hope all is well with you and Norma!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Blue! Your smile is my reward. All's well with Norma and me, as I trust it is with you, Louise.
DeleteWhat fun, both of these posts! My favourite line (and it was hard to pick) was "he puts his hat on one leg at a time, just like me" (from the linked post) ... you know how to finish a thought, all right :)
ReplyDeleteO. Henry and Oh Henry are two of my favourite things, by the way. When my father was first in the hospital after his stroke, and I was putting in 12 hour days, my supper was too often an Oh Henry bar (nuts=protein) and a bottle of water. The cafeteria was closed but for the vending machines.
I have learned, not least from you, heroes don't always gallop in on horses but they can keep going on an Oh Henry bar from a vending machine. My respect and admiration.
DeleteI was going to write, "Oh My," but someone beat me to it. Enjoyable dialogue.
ReplyDeleteKind Sage, I'm glad you enjoyed my scholarly essay. Thank you!
DeleteWriting may be safer physically, but mentally and emotionally I'm not to sure. Best of luck to those cow pokes.
ReplyDeleteUncertainty is well-warranted. I suspect we're constantly mending from the stories we're told and those we tell ourselves.
DeleteHow many people could work Pancho, Cisco, and O Henry all into one story? You must be a genius. By the way The Cisco Kid was my favorite all-time of the old cowboy tales on TV.
ReplyDeleteIt was all done when I was a kid in the early 1950s, Emma. If I recall correctly, O. Henry was identified in the opening fanfare of the show as creator of "the Robin Hood of the Old West, the Cisco Kid", but it took 50 years and a Hollywood script-pitcher to divide Cisco into 2 characters and create Pancho.
DeleteI would have desperately needed a sidekick AND a psychic to foresee all of my future mistakes....and they would be working overtime.
ReplyDeleteIt was delightful to hear from Tex and Rosie again (yes, I do remember them).
Thanks Jon. I too had missed Tex and Rosie and had to look in on them. Or maybe they called out to me --perhaps the homophonic similarity of sidekick and psychic is more than coincidence.
DeleteA psychic sidekick (which for some reason I first typed as sidequick) would be a blessing. Except when it wasn't.
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, could we stand to be mentally connected all the time? ESPecially when we indulge in the pleasure of a private thought, I'd sidestep a psychic sidekick quite quick.
DeleteHmmm. Maybe Rosie could get a psychic sidekick, too, and they all could live happily ever after in the lively little town of Driscoll, after they've rounded up all those Driscolls. I know where there are a few. I'll try and get a message through to Fran Cisco Pancho.
ReplyDeleteChicken, I like this idea, really like it. I can't see all the Driscolls getting uprooted and confined to one town unless Tex succeeds in surrounding them. The logistics are mathematically troublesome as he's only one guy, but that's never stopped me before.
DeleteOh, Cisco, oh, Poncho. What good memories - only known by those who grew up in the 50's. Francis knew I would write this.
ReplyDeleteYes he did, dear Arleen. In fact, Francis never keeps an appointment book: he always knows when to expect us. I'm glad people, like us, can share good memories without ever having met. Is this a great future or what?
DeleteI'm still puzzling if it's safer to be a writer? For me the best sidekick is one done with one's own leg, of that I'm sure. And that's definitely safer than guns. But writing? Dunno!
ReplyDeleteTex and Rosie are cute names :-)
Puzzling is good, Lisa. We're no strangers to enigmas on this train. I hadn't thought, until now, that a Taekwondo instructor might have a broader interpretation of sidekick --and yes, I got a kick out of it!
DeletePsychic sidekick... Radar O'Reilly!
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Radar was the only MASH character with ESP.
DeleteMy mother was kind of a psychic sidekick to my father, and he was forever telling her to "get out of his head!"
ReplyDeleteI loved the Cisco Kid, and all of the other cowboy shows from the '50s. I wonder why there aren't any westerns on TV these days? Maybe you should ask Francis...
Fun post, dude!
Dear Susan, thank you. I concur. Last oater I really enjoyed was "Cowboys And Aliens" about 5 years back, with Harrison Ford and that guy that resembles Putin. I guess there just isn't much call for the old time westerns anymore. I just hope Tom Selleck makes another before he retires.
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