War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 423 Special Collectibles
In the evening of the same day when Suisui's fat sheep group came to the Makar camp, Wei Ran, who had changed into a denim suit, rode his horse and galloped, and finally saved the face he had intentionally lost in the "Cowboy Juhe cut" project.

Thanks to the riding skills he learned from the metal book, Wei Ran not only stunned Sui Sui, who knew him quite well, but also surprised the cowboys headed by Makar.

"Where did you learn to ride a horse?" Sui Sui, who dared not move on the horseback, asked curiously.

"It's a long story to say." Wei Ran said pretendingly, "It was fifty years ago."

"Love to talk or not to talk"

Sui Sui rolled her eyes, too lazy to listen to Wei Ran's nonsense, and honestly let the Mexican cowboy Diego and his daughter Blanca lead the horses she and Katenka were riding on the farm. Going in circles.

For the next half of the afternoon, the tourists brought by Sui Sui were divided into two groups, learning cowboy marksmanship and horseback riding skills in rotation.

It was also through this half-day of observation that Wei Ran also figured out Sui Sui's arrangement.

If in the Inta camp in Russia, her fat sheep were purely to enjoy shooting and aurora, then in this ranch in Makar, they came to experience the traditional American gun culture.

This can be seen only from the outdated but still classic old-fashioned weapons provided by Makar and others, from the Colt revolver that comes standard with cowboys, to the lever rifle that uses black powder reloading bullets and the old-fashioned The flat pair of shotguns, and even the retro costumes that are specially arranged like the sets and the caravans pulled by horses.

Except that there are no endless cotton fields and international friends working hard in the cotton fields, all of this seems to push back the time for more than a hundred years.

At this time, hunting has become the most insignificant link. How to cosplay a western cowboy has become the goal that all tourists are keen on.

When the sun goes down and a bonfire is lit by the pond, a small country western concert begins as the multi-talented cowboys collectively whistle a classic tune from Red Dead Redemption. The curtain kicked off with a variety of delicacies and home-brewed beer.

After a lively tossing all night, the amateur cowboys who drank too much handed in their weapons and went back to their rooms in groups.

Until the next morning, with Diego's daughter Blanc shooting and killing a wild boar that slipped to the lakeside to rummage for kitchen waste, the forgotten hunting activity was finally on the agenda.

After a hasty breakfast, the tourists who had reclaimed their weapons put on their cowboy hats, and then they each received some ammunition for their lever rifles. They were grouped under the leadership of the cowboys, either driving ATVs or riding Caravans, or on horseback, went to different pastures and started their apprentice cowboy hunting trip.

"Makar, where are we going?" Wei Ran asked behind Makar on horseback.

Hearing this, Makar explained mysteriously, "I will take you to see my neighbor's collection, and by the way, I would like to ask if your opinion is suitable for the friends you brought to see."

"It should be more appropriate to take Aurora with you for this kind of thing?"

Wei Ran became more and more strange, just now Makar left him alone, obviously avoiding Sui Sui.

"My friend's collection is a bit special."

Makar took off his cowboy hat, scratched his messy hair and continued, "I'm worried about scaring her."

"What exactly is your friend collecting?" Wei Ran became more and more curious.

"Human head" Makar thought for a while and said, "A complete human skull."

"Human skull?" Wei Ran was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously asked, "Indian?"

"how is this possible!"

Makar first denied Wei Ran's conjecture, but then put it off, "Anyway, you'll know when you get there."

Suppressing the doubts in his heart, Wei Ran gently scratched the horse's belly with the spurs on his heels to speed up.

Under the leadership of Makar, the two passed through the simple gate opened by the barbed wire fence on the edge of the ranch, and finally stopped beside a wooden house that looked very old.

"It's my friend's farm after passing through the barbed wire just now." After Makar got off his horse, he greeted Wei Ran and walked into the wooden house.

"It looks like no one has lived here for a long time." Wei Ran observed the surrounding weeds and said.

"It has been abandoned for a long time, but its quality is not bad, and it has been used as a warehouse before."

Makar explained with a smile, "When you first came here, I remember and told you that we were both cowboys working on this farm before Diego and I bought it. The owner of the farm is called Brown."

"I have an impression." Wei Ran nodded.

"This place belonged to Mr. Brown a long time ago, or more precisely, it belonged to Mr. Brown's father, Old Mr. Brown."

Makar opened the door and said, "Before I bought the farm from Mr. Brown, after the old Mr. Brown passed away, Mr. Brown sold a land of about 70 acres including here to Jack, that is, The friend I just mentioned, last night you met Jack's, the big fat guy who can talk guitar."

"I remember him. The self-brewed beer he brought is delicious." Wei Ran wanted to match the person with the name, so he continued to ask, "And then?"

Makar, who was still trying to unlock the lock, continued, "Later, in the second year after Mr. Brown's death, Mr. Brown, who was in a hurry to spend money, sold the last 50 acres to me and Diego."

"So this house belongs to that Mr. Brown?" Wei Ran has already guessed, "Including those heads you just mentioned?"

But Makar shook his head, "Old Mr. Brown used to live here. Before he passed away, his son, Little Brown, built a new house by the pond where we lived. After he passed away, this place has changed. It has become a warehouse of sundries.

Later, after the land including here was sold to Jack, Jack also rebuilt the house in the woods near the road, and this place has been abandoned. "

Speaking of which, the key in Makar's hand was broken into two pieces due to excessive force. The guy threw the half of the key in his hand helplessly, raised his foot and kicked it hard.

Accompanied by a loud bang, the deformed wooden door slapped directly on the floor, causing a large circle of dust. Makar took a step back, and then continued, "After receiving the news from Aurora, you When I was really planning to bring people here to play, I discussed with Jack to see if it could be repaired, and then I found those heads in the basement."

“This looks more like a small bar”

Wei Ran's words are not nonsense. Although this two-story wooden house is not big, there is a wooden shelf full of wine bottles on the wall facing the door, and there is even a wooden shelf less than two meters long. Small bar.

However, he didn't notice until he walked in that there were only wine bottles left on the wooden shelf, and the wine inside had been emptied long ago.

In addition, there is a pool table covered with plastic sheets and several dusty coin-operated game machines in the lobby on this floor.

There is even a big red coin-operated Coke vending machine on the side of the entrance. On top of the vending machine, there is a Coke glass bottle that is also covered in dust and a glass fish tank full of Coke bottle caps.

Not only that, but near the fireplace, there was also a TV with a big butt that looked very old. On the small table in front of the TV, there was a game console with two handles, and a box full of game cassettes.

"Old Mr. Brown was a man who enjoyed life"

Makar seemed to think of something interesting, and couldn't help showing a look of envy on his face, "You would never imagine that the old guy still had seven or eight girlfriends when he was almost 70 years old.

I remember the youngest one was not even 20 years old, and every weekend, he would invite a lot of girls to play here, and us cowboys would come to join in the fun, and it was a really good memory. "

"Stylish old thing" Wei Ran couldn't help but think of Mr. Nicholas when he said this, that old man was also unreasonably chic.

“Really a dashing old thing”

Makar shook his head, "Even the second before he died of a heart attack, he was busy working with a beautiful girl to create a miracle of life."

"Die on a woman's belly?" Wei Ran asked dumbfounded.

Makar also nodded dumbfoundingly, "When we lifted him off the bed, his old brother was still drooling at the news anchor on TV."

Wei Ran grinned, "Your description is really a bit disgusting."

"Facts"

Makar spread his hands, "Otherwise, why do you think that Mr. Brown would sell a part including this place? The affair of his father, Mr. Brown, who died in a woman's belly in those years almost made him the laughing stock of all the farmers around him. As we say, just say 'Old Mr Brown' and the owl in the tree will laugh."

"Let's talk about those heads." Wei Ran changed the subject dumbfounded.

"come with me"

While Makar was talking, he had already lifted off the carpet next to the small bar, and then pulled off a square cover on the bottom plate familiarly.

"We found this by accident when we were planning to clean up here some time ago"

Makar took out a flashlight from his pocket and turned it on, pointing to the metal ladder leading to the basement and said, "It's just below here, be careful when you come down, it's easy to knock your head down."

Before the words fell, Makar was the first to go down the ladder.Seeing this, Wei Ran looked around and followed into the basement.

The area of ​​this so-called basement is not that big, it is only ten square meters, and the height is only two meters. There are metal shelves around the wall, and three of the shelves are full of long-expired beer or some I don't know if it's still edible.

But the things placed on the metal shelf behind the metal ladder made Wei Ran frowned.

On the top floor of this metal shelf, there is a white and scary human skull quietly placed.The skull is unusually complete.And it was housed in a glass enclosure with a wooden base.

Through the wiped glass cover, Wei Ran can still see a string of English that he can't understand written in black handwriting on the position of Tianling Gai.

"Makar, what is written on it?" Wei Ran asked, pointing to the head inside the glass cover.

"This is the best gift I can think of to give you. Please don't worry about me. Although life here is boring, at least it is safe enough. I will go back soon." Makar helped translate with a strange expression.

(End of this chapter)