Lonesome Dove

Until her death, Newt’s mother Maggie was Lonesome Dove’s resident sex worker, and Jake Spoon was her best customer. When he was a little boy, Newt idolized Jake. He still secretly hopes that Jake is his father. It’s been years since Spoon (who once was a Texas Ranger with the Captain, Augustus, and Deets) grew tired of cattle trading and left to seek out new adventures. But now, much to Newt’s delight, he’s back

Jake and Deets dismount. Jake is visibly surprised to see how old Newt has gotten. Both Augustus and Call eye Jake cautiously. His horse shows signs of having been ridden hard, like he’s been trying to outrun trouble. Both men like Jake, but neither trusts him. But Jake isn’t interested in answering their questions, at least until he's had a chance to wash up—a handsome man, he’s always cared about his appearance and his clothes—and eat something. 

In the confusion, Dish Boggett feels forgotten, so he reiterates his intention to accept Call’s offer. Call distractedly sends him to help Newt and Pea Eye with the well, a task that Dish feels beneath his dignity as a capable cowboy. But when he looks in the Captain’s eyes, he can’t bring himself to say so. Begrudgingly, and only to keep his reputation as a good worker intact, he heads toward the well.

Augustus fries some meat for Deets and Jake. As they eat, he and Call press Jake for his story. Jake starts by describing a trip to Montana, where he claims he was scouting buffalo with the U.S. Army. He describes it as the perfect country for cattle ranching, claiming that the three of them stand to make a fortune if they can rustle up a herd, drive them north, and stake a claim in the territory. This rosy vision makes Call and Augustus suspicious, because neither has known Jake to be an ambitious or hard-working man. Finally, Call asks directly what Jake—and his exhausted horse—have been running from.

Jake explains that he was in Fort Smith, Arkansas, doing a bit of gambling. When a drunk man pulled a gun on him during a game, he grabbed the nearest available weapon, a buffalo gun, to defend himself. He missed his antagonist, but the bullet from the powerful gun tore through the saloon’s thin wall and killed the town’s mayor-cum-dentist. To complicate matters, July Johnson, the town sheriff and the dead man’s brother, had heard that Jake was a gunfighter and asked him to leave town a week before the accident. The ironic nature of Jake’s crime strikes both Call and Gus, who know that Jake’s gunslinger reputation derives from an equally accidental—albeit far luckier—shot early in his career with the Rangers.

Still, Call points out, July Johnson could hardly hang Jake Spoon for an accident. Jake replies that he wasn’t going to stick around to find out. Johnson is a determined man. Slowly, the talk turns to how the town has—and hasn’t—changed since Jake left. When he asks about Maggie, an uncomfortable silence immediately fills the room. Finally, Augustus says that Maggie died soon after Jake left and that the Hat Creek boys adopted Newt after that—since one of them is probably the boy’s father.