"Noon?"

"You know, duel at high noon so the sun wouldn't be in anyone's eyes," Ted explained.

Sentenza scratched his neck as he leaned back a little in the barstool. "I'm afraid I still don't follow."

Ted set down the goblet he was wiping dry with a cloth. "You know, someone slighted your honor so you planned a duel in the middle of town. The two of you would stand off and draw pistols at the last toll of the noon bell. And it'd be at noon so the sun wouldn't be in anyone's eyes, and it'd be a real contest of skills."

Stolen novel; please report.

Sentenza pulled out a cigarillo from his coat pocket and stuck it in the corner of his mouth. He pulled out a match and lit it against the side of his mug. He took his time and slowly lit the cigarillo. After almost a minute of this ritual with Ted waiting, Sentenza finally responded. "That's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. From the honor part to not just ambushing him."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"If you were gonna kill a guy, you'd just kill him. Only an idiot would schedule something without having an ambush set up. Of course, that means only an idiot would actually show up." Sentenza explained. "Sounds like some romantic nonsense to me."

"Ah," Ted said somewhat disappointed. He liked to think of Sentenza standing under the desert sun facing down an uppity punk.

Even though he said that never happened, Ted made a firm decision to continue to imagine that though. It would be his little secret.