A bit heavy handed in the way it uses the challenge! But hopefully you'll forgive me.
March had come in like the proverbial lion, with heavy rains and a cold wind, both of which had left Heyes very glad that they hadn't been stuck out on the trail. However with April just around the corner, the weather had finally turned milder. So he and his partner were sat reclined on the chairs outside the saloon, smoking cheap cigars and appreciating the fresh warm air after too long sheltering indoors. Heyes was very relaxed, drifting with little in his head,when the Kid's voice broke into the sleepy silence. “I really hate this town, Heyes.”
“Kid, why do you say that?” Heyes startled out of his half doze, looked over at his partner in some surprise through a slight haze of smoke.“It's real pretty and the folk seem mostly friendly.”
Heyes looked away from his partner at a pretty young woman, who with a cheerful. “Evening, Mr Heyes,” smiled at him as she passed.
Heyes smiled back before watching her walk away as he said. “Some of them are real friendly in fact. I was thinking it might be worth us staying here, 'til we got a better idea of what we want to do.”
Curry snorted following Heyes gaze, before laughing harshly. “Yeah, they're real friendly to the great Hannibal Heyes. That saloon owner is rubbin' his hands with glee over all that extra money comin' in cos people are so eager to play against his new dealer.”
Heyes was a little stung at the tone in his partner's voice and said half- angrily. “It pays well, better than your ranch jobs anyways.” He regretted his words almost instantly at the pained expression that crossed the Kid's face.
“I know Heyes and I ain't really mad at you. I just really hate this town! No-one looks at me direct. And those ranches are the only place that'll hire me. 'Cos they ain't too fussed who I am, as long as I work hard and I'm cheap. Most folk here in town, never talk to me 'cept when they got no choice. If anyone tries they get glared at, 'specially the women. I feel like one of them lepers in the bible. Don't know what they figure I'm gonna do to them. They never give me a chance to ask.” He stopped talking then and took a long puff on his cigar. He wouldn't look at Heyes and his whole manner suggested he wished he'd not said anything and would certainly regret saying anything more.
Heyes taken aback at both the unusually long speech and the unaccustomed dark bitterness of his friend's tone, became aware of an uncomfortable trickling chill down his back. He was also hit with a sense of disappointment in himself that he hadn't noticed any of what the Kid had been coping with. Because now as he played the last few weeks back with new eyes, everything clicked into place like the tumblers on a Brooker.
The Kid's strange reluctance to go for a drink, except when the saloon was quiet. His unusual eagerness to accept work patently hard on the back. The odd slightly charged atmosphere when he and the Kid walked in anywhere together. He said with a lightness that he knew likely sounded as false to the Kid as it felt to him. “It's just people getting used to you Kid. Just give 'em some time. They'll soon figure out you ain't that bad once they get to know you.” His attempt at humor fell heavily between them. After a few awkward moments Curry gave an unconvinced grunt. Heyes patted him gently on the shoulder without looking at him, not liking the tight muscles he felt under his hand and said with genuine sympathy. “It'll get better, Kid. Just need to hang on in there.”
He'd not really thought about this side of things when they were so intent on the holy grail of amnesty. It suddenly felt like an unforgivable oversight and had ignored one of their Grandpa Curry's favourite adages of always looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Heyes risked a glance over at him then, eager to see if he'd made any impact, but the Kid was still studying his lap. The trickle down Heyes' back turned into a torrent as he realised why Curry had finally told him. “You're leaving aren't you?”
“I was thinkin' I'd be on tomorrow's stage to Denver. Might be easier for me in a bigger town.”
Heyes sat up straight, suddenly alert. “I'll come with you. Ain't that tied to this town.” He had a sudden fear that if he let his partner leave without him, he might not see him again. It was probably ridiculous, but Kid in this strange mood worried him.
Curry met his eyes then, looking uncomfortable, sounding weary but determined. “Look, Heyes. Ain't no need for you to move on while you're settled. I'll keep in touch. So if you get tired of it here, you can come join me, wherever I end up.” He trailed off, before looking away to stare off into the street.
Heyes followed his gaze and watched the street fill with people hurrying home in amongst men lighting the gas lamps as the sun set. When Curry's slightly wistful tone broke the silence, his throat tightened. “All them years of chasin' amnesty. I actually believed it'd be a way to live normal. But I guess fast draws don't get that right. Leastwise not in this town.” With that he stubbed out the remainder of his cigar, stood and started to walk back towards the rooms they'd rented on their arrival in town.
Heyes watched his partner walk away and flinched when a man coming the other way on the veranda deliberately gave him a wide berth. Seeing his partner cross the street with his back tight, his shoulders hunched and head down, the idea of staying suddenly felt unbearable to him too. He stamped out his cigar with some force and quickly walked to catch up to his partner before he reached the other side of the street.
As he came up beside him, he said firmly. “I'm coming with you, Kid. No tellin' what kind of trouble you might get into otherwise.”
“Heyes, there's no need.” Heyes grinned at that, the lack of conviction in his partner's tone easily confirmed what he'd suspected. Curry whatever he'd actually said, had at least half-hoped he'd not be leaving alone.
“Ain't no point in arguing with me.” Curry subsided then with a smile of his own, which didn't even fade as Heyes added.“I sure hope you looked for asterisks when you checked that timetable.”
Heyes slung his arm round Curry's shoulder, noting the much less tight muscles as his partner said in a gratifyingly normal tone “Of course I did. What do you take me for, Heyes? An amateur or somethin'?”
Once at the door to their accommodation, Heyes with a final glance back onto the street and feeling no regret, mentally waved goodbye to the unforgiving town. He followed his partner, who had already started up the stairs to their rooms smiling. He was certain that a bright future waited for them somewhere, they just needed to find it together.
Home 
