Now why did Hickory go and punch that Angel? Sure it spooked him, popping up right there at lunch. And yet? it wasn't fear that balled his hand into a fist -

Cause wouldn't you? Wouldn't anyone - a sick Ma at home, Da long dead and buried, all them prayers piling up unanswered while Hickory was down on his bruised knees?

Hickory was angry all right. He was fierce, now - cause that Angel didn't show up to give no help. That Angel came by asking for it - with all that power just plain to see, the power to fix the world and all that ails it.

And now look what poor Hickory has to do - to rebuild this town? To fight them shadow critters? And how is he supposed to do that when its already taking near everything he's got - just to keep them chickens safe, Ma well, and himself out of trouble -

All he wanted was maybe just a dance with May, maybe a bit more, to hold her close? That she's sweet, now, a voice like an Angel, but now she's over there lookin at him like he's more than a man.

And that's not to say Hickory is bad, not all the time. Not even on purpose - just there are things a man has to -

That drinking and fighting ain't wrong just as long as the chores are done proper first. That those rougher parts of life ain't no sin, that loving a lady is proper and Hickory just has so much love to give!

And May is special, right, sweet and soft. She's sophisticated. That she wears her passion like a pearl necklace? That certainly Hickory would notice, naturally - that she's already spoken for, perhaps taken?

That ever since Hickory came back, that all she can think about is swallowing - those strange feelings, because it wouldn't do, would it? For a Lady? But certainly she can worship Hickory and still be seen with Weston Covanger?

Because Weston needs May, that what happens in the Study is only half the battle, the Men's Business, and he's far too proud to settle for half of anything. That if he wants to move up the ranks of his family, to be more than a Covanger, to become the Covanger? He's going to need a woman in the Kitchen as well - he's going to need May.

And if that seems a bit old fashioned? A bit too much like the Wild West? Well the West is starting to get wild again now that everyone starts to Drink.