Moon

Something of a cheat- the start of a longer story not yet written, but it fits the challenge.

Heyes watched his partner a little worriedly, as he unusually paced their hotel room like a trapped cougar, before stopping and dropping down onto the lone chair in the room with a heavy sigh.


The moon was full and bright shining through the window, highlighting the taut lines of Kid’s face. Heyes was about to speak when Kid cleared his throat and met his gaze, his expression shadowed. “I gotta go somewhere Heyes. There ain’t no need for you to come. I’ll meet ya in a couple of weeks out in Boulder.”


Heyes shook his head firmly, determined not to let his partner go anywhere on his own right now. “I’m coming too.” Kid started to complain, but Heyes held up his hand and snapped. “And don’t argue with me, Kid.” Heyes knew it was a mistake to confront Kid when he was in this mood, but his own temper was also uneasy, which was making him less careful than was exactly sensible.


Heyes wasn’t surprised when Kid stood up quickly with his arms folded and stepped towards him as he spoke, his voice tight and angry. “Damnit Heyes, I’m not a child! There’s a body with my bullet in it and I’m trying to work out how to deal with that.”


Heyes swallowed hard and took a deep breath, steadying his own anger, knowing this could easily escalate into a row, which would help neither of them. He kept his voice calm and conciliatory and said as evenly as he was capable of. “Ain’t suggesting you are Kid; I just think we oughta try and get through this together. I know it wasn’t my bullet, but I share the blame and we both know it.”


Heyes saw with some relief that his words had made an impact, when the Kid’s body relaxed, and he flopped back down on the chair. After a short pause he said more calmly, though with angry pain still leaking through. “I can’t even say I’m sorry he’s dead, Heyes, ‘cos he was just gonna keep on killing, till he was stopped by either the noose or a bullet.  But…” Kid shrugged a little helplessly, unable to finish the thought.

Heyes realized then, just who Kid was planning on visiting, his old mentor. He smiled slightly at the memory of the old man, who had done so much for his friend. “You think Archie is still alive, Kid?”

Kid looked at him in slight surprise before shaking his head in some amusement. “You a mind reader now, Heyes?”
 
Heyes smiled as some of the tension between them eased. “No, Kid, still just a genius.”
 
Kid didn’t respond directly except with a faint smile of his own, as he said. “I ain’t sure, Heyes, but there’s only one way to find out.”

Carrying some soup into Kyle, Wheat sat next to the bed.  “Come on, Kyle, wake up.  You need to eat something.”


Laying in Hannibal Heyes’ bed in the leader’s cabin at Devil’s Hole, Kyle stirred but did not open his eyes.  


Wheat pulled the light sheet off of his partner and studied the tight bandage on his thigh.  Relieved that no blood had seeped through this time, he carefully returned the sheet.  “Kyle, open your eyes.  You have to drink some water at least,” he demanded.


Kyle did not respond.


Hannibal Heyes quietly slipped from the doorway and bent over to lift and support Kyle’s head and shoulders off the bed.  “Kyle, you heard what Wheat said, drink,” he said firmly.


Wheat held a glass close to him and tilted it slightly in his mouth.  The movement and feel of the glass helped Kyle to open his eyes.  Sipping the water, his eyes went to the sole window.  Looking into the night sky, he stared at the half moon’s light.  He moved his head to the side to look into Heyes’ face.  The concern there was echoed on Wheat’s countenance.  


Putting the water glass down, Wheat lifted a spoonful of soup to Kyle’s lips.  He accepted it without protest, again staring out the window.  Swallowing slowly, Kyle said in a small, weak voice, “How long?”


Wheat answered, “You been here a full day and another day to travel here.”


Pulling his eyes away from the moon, Kyle looked at Wheat not understanding.  “No, no, how long?”


Heyes voice caught his attention.  “How long what, Kyle?”


Kyle turned his head, and the movement caused a flash of pain.  He closed his eyes tightly.  Heyes thought he had gone back into his pain-filled sleep, but then Kyle slowly opened his eyes and squinted into the night, saying, “Til the full moon?”


Looking at the partial moon hanging in the sky, Heyes answered, “Three maybe four nights.  Why?”  


Kyle never answered as he lost consciousness and was laying quietly.


Wheat picked up the dishes and followed Heyes out to the main room.  “How’s the Kid?” 


Sweeping his too long hair out of his eyes, Heyes stared at the doorway of Curry’s bedroom.  “Fever seems to be breaking but he hasn’t woken up.  He owes his life to Kyle.”


Watching Wheat sit down at the table where he could easily watch Kyle, Heyes poured a glass of water.  “Going to see if I can get the Kid to drink some water.”


ASJ*****ASJ*****ASJ*****ASJ*****ASJ


Instantly awake when Curry started mumbling in his sleep, Heyes sat up straighter in his chair.  He put his hand on Curry’s forehead.  He still radiated heat although Heyes tried, unsuccessfully,  to convince himself Curry was cooler than a few hours ago.  Wringing out a towel in the water basin, he placed it on his partner’s head.
  
Blue eyes flew open but refused to focus.  “Heyes?  Heyes?” he called.


“I’m right here, Kid,” Heyes answered, touching the sweat covered arm lightly.  He tried to keep the worry out of his voice, but the Kid didn’t hear anyway.


“Heyes, remember strawberry!”


It didn’t sound like a question or anything coherent, so Heyes answered, “Yeah I remember,” not knowing what he was supposed to recall but wanting to appease the feverish man.


Curry turned his head to him, and blue eyes caught brown.  “Must remember the strawberry moon!” he said emphatically.


Catching a fleeting coherence in the Kid, Heyes asked, “Strawberry moon?”


Smiling weakly, Curry nodded.  “That’s right, strawberry moon.”  Then, he closed his eyes, lost again in his feverish sleep.


“Said that when we found him, too.”  Startled by the voice behind him, Heyes turned quickly.  Preacher leaned against the door jamb behind him.  “Kyle was babbling about the moon, too.”


Preacher approached and sat on the edge of the bed.  Supporting Curry’s head, he told Heyes, “Try some water, again.”  Curry sipped the water without opening his eyes.  “Let him rest.”  Preacher’s words were an order and Heyes followed him into the main room.  Wheat sat still at the table, watching Kyle through the open door, willing him to wake up.


Preacher poured three glasses of whiskey.  “Brave man, Kyle,” he mused mostly to himself as his two companions had their thoughts elsewhere.  “The Kid had lost his gun and was pinned down by a lawman backed up to the rocks with nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.  From his bullet entry wound, looks like he was shot while his hands were raised above his head.”


Watching as Heyes and Wheat each nodded at the narrative without looking at him, Preacher continued, “Lawman was so focused he didn’t notice the Kid wasn’t alone.  When Kyle saw the Kid had been shot, he charged that man from behind holding a small log in the air.  He hit him hard on the head, knocked him out but his finger twitched on the trigger and his gun fired, hitting Kyle in the thigh.”


“Kyle….” Heyes voice was full of gratitude, but words failed him.  


“That’s my partner!  Brave man!” Wheat boasted.  Heyes did not argue.


Kyle groaned.  Preacher motioned to Wheat to stay where he was and went to sit next to the injured man.  He lifted the sheet and untied the bandage.  “We got any water boiling?” he called back to the watching men in the main room.  


“I’ll bring it in,” Heyes said.  


Wheat followed Preacher’s every move as he cleaned the wound again and rebandaged it.  


Preacher joined Wheat at the table saying, “Fever’s breaking.  He’ll wake up by morning.  I sent Matt McWinter into town this morning for some laudanum.  They’re both gonna need it when they wake up.  Should be back anytime now.”


As if on cue, Kyle moaned loudly.  Preacher held Wheat back from rushing into the room and Kyle settled quietly.  “Matt asked about the haul from the robbery.”


Heyes and Wheat turned their attention momentarily to Preacher.  “Told him when Hank and I heard the shot, we followed the sound to the rocks and found the Kid, Kyle and the lawman all unconscious.  Tied the lawman to a tree; he should be able to get loose in a couple of hours.  We brought them two back here.  Found their horses but not the money sacks.”


“Just glad to have them back here recovering,” Heyes said quietly.  “There’s always another job we can pull.”


“Hank found the Kid’s gun in a bush near the horses.”


A small smile escaped Heyes.  “Kid’ll be glad to hear that.”


ASJ*****ASJ*****ASJ*****ASJ*****ASJ 


The next evening, Heyes and Wheat took a break on the porch of the leader’s cabin while Preacher examined his improving patients.  Both fevers had broken over a day ago, but the makeshift doctor had kept both men dosed with laudanum to ease their pain.  


As the moon started its ascent across the sky, Heyes asked, “Kyle still talking about the full moon?”


“Mumbling about it is more like it,” Wheat answered.  Neither man had slept more than an hour at a time watching over their injured partners.  “The Kid still talking about strawberries?”


“Yeah,” answered Heyes.  “Funny what the mind thinks about when it’s fighting off pain.”  


“Well, if I remember right, it’s about the time of year for picking the first strawberries.  Maybe we could go find him some.”


Not expecting thoughtfulness from the older, gruff outlaw, Heyes stared at Wheat as he added, “Course, I wouldn’t mind some myself.”


Interrupting them, Preacher said, “Kyle’s awake.  Think you should hear what he has to say.”


Sitting up in bed, Kyle was again looking out the window into the night sky.  Smiling as they entered, he said, “Wheat, Heyes, good to see you.  How’s the Kid?”


“Recovering,” Heyes answered.  “How do you feel, Kyle?”  Heyes asked while Wheat took the chair next to the bed and touched his partner’s arm.  


“Kyle, tell them what you told me,” Preacher urged.


“Oh yeah, I was tellin” Preacher we better hurry if we want to find our money before the Indians get it.”


“Our money?  The take?  You know where it is?” Heyes asked incredulously.  


Through brown-stained teeth, Kyle smiled again.  “Sure do.  All twenty thousand of it.  Me and the Kid hid it.  Didn’t have a lot of choices, though.”


“If you know where it is, we’ll get it when you get better,” Heyes started.


“No, you need to send someone now, before the full moon.”  Kyle sat up straighter, then recoiled a little as the pain in his thigh intensified.


“Kyle?”


“Me and the Kid hid the sacks in a strawberry patch, under the plants, near those rocks where that sneaky lawman caught us.”


“Strawberries.  That’s what the Kid was trying to tell me.”  Heyes reflected with a slight grin.  “Still, that money will still be there in a few days.”


“NO!”  Heyes had never heard Kyle so determined.  “Send someone now.  As far as I can tell, tomorrow is the full moon.  The Indians call the June full moon the strawberry moon and believe that is the time to harvest the strawberries.  They think if you do it then they will be the sweetest and all the following harvests will be plentiful.  We need to get there first!”


“Heyes, the strawberries!”  They heard Curry’s voice call from his room as he regained enough presence of mind to communicate.  


“Preacher, take Hank and Matt and go get that money.  Maybe pick a few strawberries too,” Heyes said, going over to his partner’s room.  


ASJ*****ASJ*****ASJ*****ASJ*****ASJ


Two days later, the entire Devil’s Hole Gang, including Curry and Kyle, sat around the big wooden table in the bunkhouse.  Each had a stack of money in front of them, their portion of the robbery money.  And each raised a glass of strawberry lemonade with a splash of whiskey to Wheat’s toast, “To Kyle Murtry and Jed Curry on their recoveries and for saving our money!”


“Cheers!”

After taking a sip, Curry raised his glass again, “To my hero, Kyle, and the strawberry moon!”