MoulinP
Posts : 245
Join date : 2015-11-29
Age : 63
Location : Norfolk, England
 | | Subject: Dictionary Sun Apr 10, 2016 3:09 am | |
| Dictionary The Kid walked into the house and frowned. Heyes was standing by the dresser, studying a book. He glanced up.
“Hey Kid,” he said, distracted.
“Heyes.” The Kid shut the door and came to stand by the side of his partner, reading over his shoulder. “What you doing?” Before Heyes could answer, he had seized the book. He twisted it up so he could see the spine, nearly tearing it out of Heyes’ hands. “Is this a new book?” He sounded irritated.
“It’s a dictionary. I’m looking up a word,” Heyes said, wrestling it back. He sighed and blinked.“And yes it is new. I bought it today.” He frowned at it again.
The Kid rolled his eyes and glanced at the shelf. They already had four books, two of which Heyes had found, either in a hotel room or on a train.
“Remind me again how dictionaries work?” He slapped his hat down on the table.
Heyes glanced at him in irritation. “They tell you what a word means.” He shook his head in despair and looked back at the book.
“And if you can’t spell it?” The Kid looked incredulous. Then turning away, he dropped heavily into an easy chair.
“I’ve got an idea. Keep going until I hit it,” Heyes mused, turning a few pages.
“This word. What d’you want it for?”
“Oh, something Mary said about me yesterday. Wondered what it meant that’s all.”
“So you bought a dictionary to find out? Jeez!” The Kid shook his head.
“I’ve wanted one for a while,” Heyes said, in justification for his purchase.
“You couldn’t just ask her what it meant?”
Heyes smiled faintly. “No. You don’t impress a woman by showing your ignorance, Kid.”
The Kid grinned. “Oh so you’re impressing her now!”
Heyes’ smile deepened. “Hope so.” He must have found the word he was looking for because he grunted and nodded. Sighing he put the book on the shelf with the others. He sniffed and moved it along between two books and then moved it again. Now it was in the right place in height order.
The Kid raised an eyebrow and shuddered.
“Heyes, how long we been in Porterville now?” he asked, suddenly, resting his head back.
“Four months just about.”
“And we haven’t been out of town once?”
“Nope. Well I’ve been out to the Linley ranch a couple of times to take supplies but that’s all. Why?”
The Kid sighed. “Oh I just feel that the walls are closing in on me a bit that’s all. How about us riding over to Salt River, Friday night?”
“Salt River?” Heyes frowned. He sat down on a chair by the table. “Ain’t much there, Kid,” He sounded doubtful.
“I know that. It ain’t there I wanna see. I could just do with a change of scenery that’s all.”
Heyes nodded. “Why Salt River? Why Friday night?”
“’Cos we can get there and back in an evening and Walt doesn’t want me in the livery until noon on Saturday. I’m pulling the late shift.”
“I’m seeing Mary Saturday and I have to work all day. It’s one of our busiest days Saturday.” He didn’t look too keen but he sighed. “If you really want to.”
“I do really want to.”
“Friday night. Salt River.” Heyes winced “Should we tell Lom?”
“Why? He ain’t our keeper.”
“He kinda is, Kid. Supposing something happens?”
“Like what?”
Heyes scratched his cheek. “I dunno. Things do happen.” He rolled his eyes and shrugged.
The Kid groaned. “Heyes! You’re no fun anymore!”
“I just don’t think we should that’s all.”
“Not that you ever were,” the Kid muttered. Heyes glared at him. The Kid sighed. “Okay so what d’you wanna do Friday night?” Heyes didn’t answer. “I know. Why don’t we join a poker game?Ain’t done that in a while.”
Heyes shook his head furiously. “I can’t. You know I can’t.” He put his head down.
“Ain’t exactly high stakes, Heyes.”
“I can’t, Kid. I can’t risk it.” He looked glum. “I’ve Mary to think of now.”
The Kid looked surprised. “Mary, huh?” He grinned ruefully. “So things are getting serious between you two.”
Heyes looked embarrassed. “No. Not exactly. Still early days. I said when we got the amnesty I wouldn't play poker again. We couldn't take the risk. I just don’t wanna jeopardise anything with Mary that’s all.”He sighed. “So you wanna ride over to Salt River on Friday night? Okay I’ll talk to Lom in the morning, alright? If he says we can go, we go.”
The Kid sighed. “Okay, Heyes, we’ll do it your way.”
Heyes got up and went into the kitchen area.
“Say, what word?” the Kid called.
“Huh?” Heyes looked back.
“What word were you looking up?”
Heyes grinned. “Oh. I was looking up what mercurial meant.”
“And?”
“Unpredictable, changeable, fickle.”
The Kid rolled his eyes. “Yeah Heyes. That is definitely you.” | |
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