To Have and to Hold

One at a time they road into town, a shady group known to each other as trusted friends but to the rest of the nation....... Outlaws. One by one they acted as if they had no clue who the other's were, for now they were total strangers to each other until it was time to go to work. Each member of the gang knew their job, knew their place, knew what it was they were to do to make the job at hand a success.

They waited acting as if they were there for no special reason, they tended to their horse or washed in a water trough .......waiting....waiting.....

The town's folk paid them no mind, going about their business as usual. They paid no attention to the two men who now came down the middle of the main street, riding right on past the sheriff's office, past the bank, past the hotel, the barber shop, the hotel until they turned going back to the bank where they dismounted going inside as they walked they pulled their kerchiefs over their faces........

One man stood by the door, his gloved hands resting on his gunbelt while the other wearing a slightly oversized coat and black hat walked up to the teller sliding a folded note under the bars of the teller's window. The teller, busy with what he was doing didn't look up. He felt for the paper setting it aside while he continued to add figures on a notepaper. The dark haired young robber turned to his partner, shrugging his shoulders at him.......

to be continued.......

Outside the rest of the gang began to get fidgety, they tried not to look outright at each other but.....it was taking too long! Something was going wrong inside the bank and they had to know if their leaders were in some sort of trouble.

They all looked to the older man, the one with the light colored mustashe. He jerked his head to the short man with a mouth full of chaw nearest the bank. He smiled, spat a stream of brown goo into the street, hiked up his pants then ambled toward the double doors of the bank to sneak a peek.

Nothing was happening. He turned and shrugged to the others.

Wheat, motioned for him to get inside the door. Kyle stepped inside pulling his bandanna up over his bulging cheeks.

Heyes cleared his throat trying to get the teller's attention.

"In a moment Sir." he replied.

"Um, I'm in a hurry......could you speed it up some?" Heyes asked.

"Haste makes waste!" sang the teller as he continued what he was doing.

"Yeah but bullets make blood!" Heyes singsang back. This cause the teller to look up. He stared into a pair of deep dark brown eyes. "Hi, stick em up."

The teller's eyes all but popped out of his head just before he feinted dead away. Heyes wasted no time in grabbing what he could from the open drawer, he filled his pockets stuffing whatever he could into them, the last thing he grabbed was his hand written note the one the teller never read. He headed for the street, his men right on his heals. Still the people of the town had no clue the bank had just been robbed!

One by one they mounted up to tear off down the street, all but Wheat who mounted slowly riding toward the sheriff's office just as the man stepped out the door stretching from his morning nap. Wheat stopped, leaned on the horn of his saddle. "Nice town ya have here."

"We like it. " the sheriff smiled.

"Well, good day to ya." he followd the gang out of town shaking his head and grinning......


to be continued.....

Wheat easily caught up with the gang about an hour later, he'd stayed behind waiting to see if the town would form a possee but it took them so long he just got plumb tired of waiting so he went on to catch up with the rest of the gang.

He'd found them waiting in a spot they'd planned to meet at then ride on to Devil's Hole, once there they would divide the days take evenly and Heyes would plan the next job. They were a happy group as they went on "home", a meal would be prepared and a game of cards would pass the night away.....possibly a bottle or two of the whiskey that was hidden away in the leader's cabin.

Once the signal was fired at the entrance, they entered Kid and Heyes handing off their horses to be taken care of while they went in to unpack Heyes' pockets of the days loot. Heyes stood near the table digging into his deep coat pockets with both hands pulling out the bills and dropping them on the table top. Kid stood watching, the door opened and Wheat followed by Kyle came in.....

Hi Folks,

This is a challenge story which will be moved into the challenge thread once Dor has finished. Please use the relevant month to post your own story in the challenge thread.

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"What was the take?" Wheat asked as he came in, Kyle a step behind him.

Heyes was excited, he was giggling and doing his happy wiggle as he looked at the money in his hands, suddenly the smile on his face turned to a frown. He flashed a quick look to Kid, then licked his lips nervously. Kid stepped closer, so did Wheat. Kyle peeled around him.

"What's wrong Heyes?" Kid asked, his hand resting on his belt. He watched Heyes swallow.

"The money......." He licked his lips again....."It's all dollar bills.........."

"DOLLAR BILLS!!!" Wheat roared, Kyle made a mad dash for the door. He liked Heyes and Wheat, he didn't want to see Wheat shoot Heyes and Kid shoot Wheat.......or maybe they would both shoot Heyes!

"I didn't look to see what I was taking I just took it!"

"Oh man Heyes! How much is there?" Kid groaned, " Do we have enough to at least get grub for awhile?"

Wheat hovered near the table as Heyes counted out the money. Kid close but not too close, just enough to pull his gun if need be.

Heyes counted the money, "Forty three dollars....." he croaked

to be continued....

"FORTY-THREE DOLLARS!!????" Wheat wailed then pulled his hat off his head turning around and knowing better then to hit Heyes as he wanted too he slapped poor Kyle with it instead this made him really run out the door. Heyes watched him go, giving an inward groan as he knew the news about the amout of the take wasn't going to be welcomed well. Wheat turned back to Heyes leaning with both hands on the table crushing his hat, "Forty-three DOLLARS!!!! What is that!!?? FORTY-THREE DANG BLASTED DOLLARS!!!"

Heyes shrugged non'committently, "Could be worse, could be forty-two dollars......ALRIGHT! So it wasn't a huge haul like I thought it would be! We'll make it up on the next job."

"Next Job? Next Job, and those boys are gonna want to go on another job so soon after this one? Everyone and their mother will be out there looking for us!'' Wheat bellowed.

"He said the next job, you're in or ya ain't." Kid said so calmly the hairs on the back of Wheat's neck stood up. He looked from Kid to Heyes....

"Alright then, but you're the one going down to get the grub until the next job LEADER!" he turned and stormed out.

Heyes looked crestfallen, he inhailed deeply letting it out through his nose then looked at Kid, "wanna be leader?"

Kid grinned shaking his head......

to be continued.....

The next morning, Heyes saddled his horse, took along a pack horse then headed out of the hole then in the opposite direction of the town they'd robbed the day before. Wasn't long before he heard hoofbeats behind him, he grinned as he pulled up knowing full well it would be Kid...it was.

"What took ya so long?"

"Had breakfast first. Here." he passed Heyes something wrapped in dirty brown paper. Heyes opened the package finding a biscuit with some kind of yellow stuff, stuffed into it. He looked at it shrugged took a bite, made a face then when he had the chance got rid of it as they went along.

"Okay we have forty-three dollars, " Heyes told him, "Should be able to get enough supplies for a couple of weeks......maybe."

"I hope so, them boys are getting mighty sick of grits and beans."

They went along in silence then when a good road came into view they pulled up to check for traffic. "Looks like a brokedown wagon down there, there's a woman." Kid pointed out, "child too."

Heyes nodded, they watched as a man came into view from around the wagon. He gave it a kick out of frustration. The boys looked at each other figuring it was safe enough to approach them.....

to be continued.....

Kid looked at Heyes as he studied the family below, he could clearly see Heyes thinking on if the family was a safe bet or not. Kid waited. "Let's go down." Heyes finally said. They rode on down, the woman shaded her eyes against the sun as the child ran to her clinging to her legs. The man also turned to watch them coming.

"Having some trouble?" Heyes smiled. Kid swung off his horse to take a look at the broken wheel.

"Wheel's busted and we have a long way still to go. I haven't a spare." The man shook his head. "I don't know what we'll do. We're supposed to meet up with another group, they won't wait for us. They'll think we changed our minds."

Kid came from around the wagon, He looked at Heyes before he climbed back in his saddle. "They'll need two wheels, the one on the other side is about ready to bust same as that one."

"Oh dear!" the woman was on the verge of tears, she turned to her husband "Virgil what will we do?"

Heyes ran a hand over his face, forty three dollars sat in his pocket.

"Those wheels are five dollars each." Kid prodded. he knew Heyes knew full well how much they cost.

"Mama? Papa? Are we gonna die here?" the child asked, a child with blond curls just like Kid when he was a young'un.

Heyes let out a deep sigh, "You folks rest here.....we'll......we'll......bring you back two wheels.....

They went along, "Don't say nothing." Heyes snapped at Kid. Kid just smiled. At last they made it into town, first stop was the livery where Heyes bought the two new wheels. He told the man there they'd be back on the way out of town. Onward they went heading toward the mercantile, but didn't get far as they stopped in front of a saloon. Leaving their horses at the post, they almost made it inside. Kid's sharp ears heard something around the corner from the swinging doors of the saloon, He veered off that way Heyes reluctantly followed.

They found two children sitting in the dirt, both crying......

"Hey? What's all the crying for?" Kid asked with a smile, "It's a beautiful day and there's no school."

The little boy sniffed and grabbed his sister's hand tight, "We ain't supposed to talk to strangers...but you don't look like a stranger."

"I don't? Who do I look like then?" Kid asked as he crossed his arms across his chest. Heyes leaned on the wall behind him to watch his partner. He had a way with children like Heyes had with a deck of cards.

"You look like a cowboy." the child said with a sure nod.

Kid grinned, "Ya know you could be right at that! Now what's wrong? Why the tears?"

"Our Pa is in jail and we ain't got no money to get him out and Ma is at home with the little ones..."

Kid looked over his shoulder at Heyes, these two must be around six and eight and there were younger ones at home? "How much to get your Pa out of jail?"

"Sheriff says fifteen dollars or fifteen days. Ma's gonna be awfully worried." he sniffed his chin quivered while his sister cried outright.

Kid turned to look at Heyes again. "What?" snapped Heyes. Kid shrugged, then nodded at the children.

"Ma's go no food back at home either." whimpered the boy........

"We can't just let them sit here, they're just kids." his blue eyes stared at Heyes, Heyes inhaled in sheer annoyance then let out his breath.

"Fifteen dollars to bail out their father, ten for the wagon wheels....that's leaving us eighteen...." Heyes contemplated, still plenty to buy at least a months worth of supplies. Against his will he peeled off the money , gave it to the children. With a squeel of joy they ran to the jail house. "Let's get away from here before the sheriff gets nosey."

They hurried away trying to lose themselves in the town........

They walked along not paying much attention to anyone or thing when Heyes stopped short. "What?" Kid asked filled with concern.

"I hear something." Heyes replied looking around then he pointed to an old woman sitting in the shadows of a stairway to an upper floor of a building, she was rocking back and forth moaning. The outlaw duo looked at each other, Kid shrugged, then Heyes sighed deeply. They went over to her.

"Ma'am? Is there anything we could do for you?" Heyes asked.

She looked at them with a mixture or rhuemy old eyes and tears. "They tossed me outta me house they did, no care atoll for an old woman." she shook her head sadly.

Heyes looked at Kid.

"How much do you need Ma'am? Kid asked.

"Rent is fifty cents a week . " her lower lip trembled. " Oh, what's to become of me?"

Kid looked at Heyes who grunted, counted out some money. "Here, "he said to Kid, "Take this and go with her. Get her room back!"

Kid looked at the money, "There's fifteen dolars here."

"I know, enough to keep her for awhile. Make sure she's alright. I'll go to the mercantile."

Heyes walked to the mercantile, he had a whopping three dollars......what could he get for a couple of months to feed all the boys other then "Grits and beans....four sacks of each and five pounds of coffee."

"Want any sugar to go with that order? Flour?" asked the man behind the counter.

"Not this time around thanks." Heyes gave him a weak grin.....

Kid had come back after seeing the old woman safe, with the horses and wagon wheels. He said nothing as they loaded the sacks on their horses then mounted up leading the pack horse with the wheels. They found the couple right where they had left them helped them with the wheel change then....

"Here, take this horse switch him out for the left mare....she's about as lame as they come. " Heyes nodded as they left.

Kid said nothing, but swelled with pride for his cousin and knew his faith in him would never wane.....but would Wheat's and the boys when they saw what they were eating for the next month.


end.