​[January 2017]
Word Count: 1832
Chapters: 1
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FRAGILE
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by
Eleanor Ward
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After a night on the town, Curry vents his concerns about the uncertainty of their future
Bright morning sunlight streaming in through the hotel room window woke Hannibal Heyes from slumber. Opening his eyes, he hastily closed them again, against the glare, becoming aware of the pounding in his head.
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Groaning, he rolled over, turning his back to the window, and gingerly opened his eyes once more, squinting against the brightness in the room and the thumping pain in his head.
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Presently he registered the empty bed adjacent to his own, memories of the previous night beginning to float into his head.
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He and Kid had gone over to the saloon to join in the township’s New Year celebrations.
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The evening had begun pleasantly enough – a few drinks, a dalliance each with one of the saloon girls, followed, for Heyes, by a few games of poker, where he had swelled his wallet quite considerably – but, as midnight approached, bringing yet another year of chasing their elusive amnesty, the Kid, fuelled by the drink he had consumed, began to turn maudlin and before long was questioning the likelihood of the amnesty ever being granted and whether it was worthwhile pursuing.
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“I know it seems like the Governor is dragging his feet,” Heyes told him, “but Lom seems to have faith that he’ll honour his promise eventually, and if Lom has faith, so do I.”
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“Lom doesn’t know if he’ll honour his promise any more than we do.” retorted the Kid, “Personally, I don’t think he’s ever going to grant it. He’s just using it as a carrot, to keep us in line.”
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Heyes had often had that thought himself, but all he said was, “What choice do we have, Kid? We can’t go back to our old life now. We have to stick with it until we get a decision, one way or the other.”
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“I don’t have to do anything.” The Kid snapped, “In fact,” he continued, picking up his drink and downing it in one gulp, “I’m not going to carry on with this charade any longer.” Banging his glass down on the bar he turned as though to walk away, but Heyes caught his arm.
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“Kid, come on, this is the drink talking. I know it’s been tough this past year, having to make a legal living after the lifestyle we used to have, but we’re still here aren’t we? We’re not in jail, or dead. We have our freedom, and, hopefully, before too long, we’ll have our identities back too and can have a normal life. Surely that’s worth holding on for?”
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“Can we ever have a ‘normal’ life, with our history?” the Kid countered, “Even if we get the amnesty, our past will always be with us, and if something happened that they thought fitted in with what we used to do, they’d still accuse us, however long we might have been legally pardoned.” He shook his head, “I’d rather live my life to the full now and end up being killed, rather than live in poverty for years until, if, the Governor decides he might honour his promise. At least I will have ‘lived’ and not just spent years marking time.”
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A sudden loud bang startled them and almost had the Kid pulling his gun.
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“It’s just fireworks.” Heyes told him, “It’s midnight. Come on, let’s go outside and watch.”
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Taking his arm, he pulled the reluctant Kid outside to join the crowd on the boardwalk watching the firework display.
It seemed like the whole town had turned out to enjoy the display, ooh-ing an aah-ing as the fireworks lit up the night sky.
As the last of the fireworks died away, Heyes turned to say “Happy New Year, Kid.” only to find that he was nowhere to be seen.
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Pushing through the slowly dispersing crowd, he searched around for Kid, but was unable to find him anywhere.
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Eventually, he returned to their hotel room, hoping that he’d gone back there, but, as he opened the door, was only vaguely surprised to find the room empty.
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He sat up well into the small hours, watching through the window for any sign of him, before finally lying down on the bed where he soon fell into a drunken sleep.
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* * *
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Yawning, Heyes sat up, putting his elbows on his knees and holding his aching head in his hands. Eventually he got up and poured some water to sooth his parched throat. Then, he splashed some water on his face and straightened his hair. This done, he pondered on what to do next. He had no idea where the Kid could have gone, or even if he had any intention of coming back. He didn’t want to leave town just in case he did come back, but on the other hand, he couldn’t just sit around here all day doing nothing. He contemplated going to the restaurant for some breakfast, but at the thought of food, his stomach turned over.
Presently, a thought occurred to him. Putting on his hat, he headed up to the livery stable to see if the Kid’s horse was gone, surprised to find that it was still stabled there, along with his own. That meant that wherever the Kid had gone, it couldn’t be too far away if he hadn’t taken his horse, and he knew he couldn’t have taken a train anywhere as none were running today.
This probably meant that the Kid had camped out of town somewhere. The question was, where?
Heyes pondered the lay of the land around the town and decided that, in the kid’s shoes, he would have opted to camp out where there were some trees, which would provide cover as well as some shelter against the elements. Fortunately, the weather had been mild so far this winter, with little in the way of ice or snow, but the Kid only had his sheepskin jacket for warmth and nothing with which to set up camp, as all of their gear was in their hotel room, so, even surrounded by trees, it wasn’t ideal to be camping out.
Having chosen what he thought was probably the likeliest location for camping outdoors, Heyes saddled his horse and set off in search of his friend.
He rode for some time, criss-crossing the area in search of tracks that might indicate the Kid had passed this way.
He was just about to give it up as a lost cause when he suddenly spotted some fir tree branches on the ground next to a group of young fir trees. They neat way they were laid he didn’t think could have been achieved naturally and so, dismounting his horse, he carefully crept over and began to pull the branches aside.
His hunch proved accurate when, as he pulled aside a branch, he found the Kid, curled up beneath it on a bed of bracken and ferns, fast asleep.
Heyes eyed his friend, smiling to himself, before crouching down and shaking his shoulder.
“Kid!” he called, “Kid, wake up!”
The Kid groaned, but didn’t open his eyes.
Heyes tried again, shaking his harder this time.
“Kid! “Wake up!”
With another groan, the Kid slowly opened his eyes, squinting against the morning sunlight, before lifting his hand to cover his eyes.
“Oooh... my head...” he muttered....”
Heyes chuckled to himself, waiting for the Kid to regain his senses.
Presently, the Kid moved his hand, and squinted up at his friend.
“Where am I?” he asked.
“The woods.” Heyes told him.
The Kid looked confused, “Woods? What woods?”
“Outside of town.” Heyes told him, “You don’t remember?”
The Kid shook his head and then wished he hadn’t as it felt like it was coming off his neck.
Slowly, he took in his surroundings.
“Why did we come here?” he asked presently.
“You. Not we.” Heyes told him.
The Kid struggled into a sitting position, holding his head in his hand.
“What are you talking about?” he grunted.
“You don’t remember what happened last night?” asked Heyes.
“I’m... not sure...” The Kid got onto all fours and attempted to get to his feet, but sat back down again, “I feel sick.” he added, before promptly throwing up.
“Better?” Heyes said, presently, as the Kid lay back down on the bracken, wiping his mouth.
The Kid nodded, “How much did I have to drink?”
“A little too much.” smiled Heyes. When the Kid made no comment, Heyes said, “You don’t remember saying you were leaving?
The Kid looked puzzled, “I did?”
Heyes nodded. Getting to his feet, he went to his horse and retrieved his canteen, which he offered to the Kid.
“Thanks.” The Kid took it and took a swig.
Heyes recounted the events of the previous night, and of the Kid’s tirade about the Governor and his threats to leave and enjoy life.
The Kid shook his head, “I am fed up of the Governor dragging his feet,“ he said presently, ”but... I guess that was the drink talking.”
“I hope it was.” said Heyes, “I’m fed up of the Governor dragging his feet too, but I’m not going to quit until we get a decision one way or the other... and I don’t want to have to do it alone...” He eyed the Kid questioningly.
“You’d never make it alone...” quipped the Kid, “Who’d back you up when your silver tongue lets you down?”
“When does my silver tongue ever let me down?” scoffed Heyes.
“Well, let me see... where shall I start? There was the time that--”
“OK, OK, maybe there has been the occasional time...”
“Occasional?” the Kid spoke over him.
They eyed each other momentarily before both bursting out laughing.
“Ooh, don’t make me laugh.” groaned the Kid, holding his aching head in his hands.
Heyes smiled, “Look, our amnesty offer might be as fragile as your head is right now, but, your head will make a recovery... and whether we get the amnesty or not, we’ll make it too, somehow. Trust me.”
The Kid looked into his friend’s smiling gaze. He knew that Heyes was no more confident of their future than he was, but, somehow, the Kid had faith in his words.
“Sure we will,” he replied, “although, getting through the rest of today is probably going to be more of a challenge even than that.”
“What you need is some hair of the dog.” smiled Heyes.
“I don’t think so.” the Kid groaned as he made an attempt to get to his feet, holding onto a tree trunk to keep his balance.
“A nice big breakfast then?” suggested Heyes.
“Shut up!” growled the Kid, clamping a hand to his mouth as his stomach turned over at the thought.
Heyes laughed, moving to take the Kid’s arm and steady him as he lead him over to his horse and boosted him up into the saddle before climbing up behind him.
“Happy New Year, Kid.” he said, as he took the reins and steered the horse back towards town.
“Let’s hope so, Heyes. Let’s hope so.”
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-ooOOoo-​
With acknowledgement to BeeJay's 'Alias Smith & Jones Writers' forum who provided the theme for this story topic.
If you would like to read/participate in their monthly writing challenge visit: asjfanfic .forumotion.com
