The Good, The Bad, and the Guilty Pt. 2: The Rogue's Gallery

As always, the most fun for me at our Murder Mystery dinner wasn't the mystery aspect of things as much as it was watching everyone get into character -- some, of course, more than others.

The Lovable PigPen, of course, relished the opportunity to play Elias Truist-Heath, ladies man and reputed fastest gun in the West with a flair for fist-fighting.


And Li'l Random McEvil went all out in his portrayal of Chief Breaking Wind, last of the Cowpai Tribe.

Cap'n Bubbles had fun playing the outwardly pious, perpetual widow Dee Adela Muerte, veil and all, leaning heavily on an accent until it became unwieldy for relaying information.


We had originally given the role of Wyatt Hertz, former sheriff, to Cap'n Shack-Fu, but when he couldn't make it I passed his part on to Cap'n Peanut (originally cast as bartender Bruce Endbattert) who was, shall we say, a bit under-dressed for the role.


Squiggly wore just the cutest little dress on the prairie* as "Doc" Tora L. Theesus.

Angel got to use the Western gear she used for our Celebrity Game Show night several years back as schoolmarm Belle Ringz


Trouble cut me off from the bar as saloon owner Liza Lotts


Maverick took a gamble playing Ace Uppis-Leaf


Cap'n Cluck had fun as the grieving mother of 13 recently deceased boys, Helena Handcart, and also apparently had fun avoiding cameras, as there were apparently no solo shots of her all night long, only making it into the group picture


and Blondie Blaarrrgghhh, who served as semi-narrator and impartial witness, came as Sheriff Reya Sunshine.



And, of course there were quite a few participants who have not yet been blessed with blog monkey nicknames, such as Li'l Random's recently-moved-to-Denton girlfriend as Butch Chastity, seen here doing what all right-thinking individuals should do: pointing firearms at The Lovable PigPen

Pointing guns at PigPen being an apparent theme of the evening

A theme, might I add, I greatly approve of.

Cap'n Bubbles brought several of her friends: from left to right Lil Bighorn, Kim O'Sawbey, Bubbles herself, Frida Rhome, and Suze Jablynd


Lil Bighorn really got into her character as a hater of the Cowpai tribe, flinging invectives at the girls whose characters had flings with Chief Random Wind, calling them "cowchip lovers," while Frida Rhome relished her role as wild child.

There were also some relative newcomers to the Fellowship of Foundations class, such as Nick O'Thyme

May Shirez-Tinpeese,

and P'Elvis Swaggarin (seen here with his co-worker Red E. Hornaught)


as well as a couple of members of the other Singles classes, "Wild" Billie Hiccup


and Eve L. Ayestare, here seen placing her "firm hand" in between her rowdy charge Frida and the overly-flirtation Elias.


And, last, but most certainly not least, was Mei-Mei as madame of The Pigeon Ranch, the self-proclaimed "soiled dove" Elvira Lynn-Fekshin

who confused the heck out of the lady at the costume rental place when she told her that she needed the madame costume for a function at the Baptist church. Mei-Mei had a lot of fun playing her character, taking every chance she could get to direct everyone to her house of ill repute: "Come visit the Pigeon Ranch, just around the corner."

As for myself, well, you can't tell from any of the pictures, but I was walking around in socks the whole evening, one of which had holes in the toes, and the other missing the whole heel. The fact that nobody mentioned it other than Li'l Chief Breaking Random tells me that either (a) nobody noticed Cap'n Cellophane's lack of footwear, (b) people got the fact that I was a shoeless drunk and didn't feel it worth commenting on, or (c) people assumed that I was oblivious to the ratty nature of my socks and didn't want to embarrass me, although if it was the last choice they needn't have bothered, since I think I did a pretty good job of that all on my own .

One of the best things about playing the town drunk -- other than getting to be a general loud and obnoxious disturbance during the proceedings all evening long -- was that it gave me an in-character reason to keep remembering random facts all night long, most of which were prefaced with statements such as "Well, when I was lying in the gutter earlier I saw so-and-so do such-and-such."

My pseudo-drunken ramblings often got me threatening glares and comments from Elias and Wyatt, but I was never too scared, since as one of the few who had read the whole script I knew that neither one of their characters could hit the broad side of a barn at two paces.

Elias-PigPen -- whose character was nicknames "Brawley the Kid" -- was quick to remind me that that fact still didn't affect his punching aim.


*I'm going to pay for that comment later, oh, yes indeed I am.

Go ahead, call my dress "cute" again, I dares ya!