FICTION

THE COMING OF THE KID by Oakley Hall (Harper & Row: $15.95). With the likes of casehardened Marshall Henry (Holdfast) Plummer, “likkered-up” J. D. Dockerty, medicine-man Doc Balthazar and midget Frank Pearl, blind man Lt. Grace, wizened Two-Star Gen. Peach and sidekick T. P. Eubanks, “Kimanche” Chief Stonepecker, scalpin’-ready Yellowfinger and caveman Livereating Smith, a crackerjack cavalry is corraled for the Kid. Author Oakley Hall has even thrown in one scruffy mutt and a grizzly, both devoted to the Kid because animals and men alike will sense a good man. That’s the Kid all over, your basic good. He’s fast on the draw but not fast to draw. That’s why he’s summoned to square off once and for all with evil run amok--and high time he did too. Big Mac is one ugly customer, fat-loose and sin-heavy astride the saddle, Big Mac and his troop of riffraff had deforced the Territory, parching soul and landscape. Now they’ve kidnaped Miss Florrie, the one woman in town still intact, so to speak. The Kid lays aside the manure shovel, picks up his weapons and, along with the self-styled troop, rides herd on the wrongdoers. The tale is a rousing one as told by the various characters lending a nice slant to storytelling. Yarnspinner Hall dedicated this Western to his grandson. He did right by the boy.