Applause and Feedback

RosieAnnieUSA. Poor Clem being let down by her Dad at the last minute, but so glad the guys saved her Christmas. Lovely.

RosieAnnieUSA:  What a great story.  Anticipation, disappointment, and then a satisfying reunion.  Thanks for a nice story to end this interesting year.

UK_Rachel74:  What a great story, loved it.  I can imagine that it may have brought a few tears to their eyes, not that they would admit to it.

RosieAnnieUSA:  So glad that you continued your story.  Sounds like they had a really good time.  New Years, a time to remember and to make plans.  Bringing up Charlie O'Rourke was a surprise, they have good memories of him and regrets for the choices he made.  Clem losing two of her friends in different ways is hard to deal with.  All hoping that the new year will be better.

UK_Rachel74:  I loved to see them finally get what they deserved.

UK_Rachel74: I think your response to the prompt is completely appropriate. I like Gov. Moonlight's note, that he was inspired by a sermon to carry the theme of forgiveness into real life, even at what might be a political cost to him. It's a good explanation why the amnesty was finally granted.

RosieAnnieUSA : Thoroughly enjoyed that story! Brought a smile onto my face. Lovely sequel to your Christmas Eve story. Loved it.

InsideOutlaw:  Oh, that was fun.  I had no clue what was going on.  Seems like Kid and Kyle were the only ones doing any 'work', it was a good way to hide the money though.

Inside Outlaw. This was good. Could see it play out.

Inside Outlaw: Fun story! Nothing goes right with Kyle, does it? He means well. I love Heyes' casual reaction.

InsideOutlaw:  A fun story and great characterization.  What more do we need?  Thanks.  I really enjoyed it.

UK_Rachel74:  You had me scared there.  I wasn't expecting the conversation to be about Kid leaving  but the reasons he gave make it understandable.  I am really glad that Heyes didn't Kid any options, he was going with him no matter what.

uk_Rachel74: A nice way of showing that bumps in a relationship can be improved when friends actually communicate and say what's on their minds. I can easily see Curry being reticent about his unhappiness, especially when he sees Heyes is enjoying himself. Curry wants the best for his friend and doesn't want to make him leave town. Thank goodness Heyes has empathy for Curry and realizes that the friendship is worth a lot more than a job.

Kattyl. Enjoyed that. Very kind of Heyes. Bless Kyle.

Kattyl: That was kind of sweet. Very enjoyable. You made excellent use of the prompt.

Kattyl:  That was a fun read.  Heyes does meet the gold standard in this tale.

Kattayl:  such a lovely study of the Kid’s character.

Kattayl:  What a wonderful heartfelt story.  Loved it.

HannaHeyes:  I really liked this 'hat story'.  Heyes, feeling a bit regretful at some life choices he made that affected Kid's life.  He knew when he saw the hat, that is was the right one for Kid.  Loved Kid's "did you steal it"?, of course not, he wouldn't have stolen a gift he was giving Kid, well maybe back when.?  Great story.
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Kattayl:  A bittersweet story.  I liked Han's explanation that he was trying to get newer pants so that he could patch the holes in Jed's pants, not lengthen them as that would have been more noticeable.  Jed eating the sweet roll and not listening in to the conversation.  It was good to see Sister Julia again and her not planning on telling on them as she knew they were truthful with her.

Nightwalker:  It was a good read, Kid saving Heyes' backside again, still getting in trouble.

kattayl- bittersweet and nicely written :)
Nightwalker: good read :)

Hanna Heyes: a sweet story about friendship, and how one friend will make sacrifices for the other's happiness.

Kattayl: I think you and I are all too well-aware of the abuses done at facilities like Valparaiso. Sister Julia showing up as a concerned and very smart woman is a good character for your story. 

Nightwalker: I do like your concept of a female Kid Curry. It adds a whole different dimension and color to the partnership.

HannaHeyes:
Sweet (in the best way) story. I liked how Heyes wants to buy a gift from what he considers his own money and how he goes about earning it. And I love how he sneakily manages to not only earn the cash but also buy the present and transport it without the Kid clocking on. Nice bit of Heyes cleverness.
Even though Heyes can seem callous sometimes, he is a bit of a mother hen at heart, so I really appreciated you showing his caring side, like wanting to give Kid the life he deserved. And since that was a bit out of the question,at least find something special for his birthday.
What a great job for Heyes - who better to guard something than someone who used to steal stuff. 
The bounty on chickens and 'Wings up!' had me chuckling out lout.
Your dialogue is really good and spot on. I could hear the boys' voices in my head and the chat with Bixby created a fully-fledged character in my mind.
Heyes 'drunk' his coffee? ;-)
The gift, of course, was perfect. And even better for the added candy. He knows his Kid. Loved the dig about using the old hat for his horse.
The line 'Nope. I'm normal. It's the rest of the world that's weird.' reminded me of the Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid movie where Butch says 'Boy, I got vision, and the rest of the world wears bifocals' or 'I'm not crazy. I'm just colourful.' I always like it when I can find overt link-ins to the movie which sparked the idea of ASJ.

Kattayl:
Good childhood story. And I don't necessarily like the genre. ;-)
I don't think I have ever seen anything similar: Han trying to steal not a new trouser for Jed, but material for further patching. Like I mentioned in my comment for HH's story, I like mother-hen Heyes. It would be like him to try and fix Jed's clothes and it is a nice tie-in to his attempts at sewing in the series. But from what we see in the series it seems the night time lessons were not very successful.
Lovely as it is to see Sister Julia again, I never got the impression in Reformation of Harry Briscoe that the boys had ever possibly encountered her before. So I have to say inserting her here does not work for me.
Lovely interaction between the nun and Han. How sad that he already has to be so wary and mistrustful and how telling that Jed seems so much more innocent. Heyes has done a good job for him so far.
On second reading you have me wondering: is Heyes really only going to get patching material, or was he going for the full trousers in order to have proper clothing when they bust out (in the near future) and he's simply lying to the nun?  ('We bustin' out, Han?...Not tonight.')
Unfortunately it seems all too realistic that an orphanage or a home for wayward boys would stoop to such practices. Then again, if they are not properly funded, they might have to stoop to such practices to pay for food. Though some official lining his pockets is more likely. Makes me think of all the horrible news coming out of Canada recently about the massive abuse Native American children had to endure in boarding schools. I am only waiting for tribes or authorities in the US to start investigating their own boarding schools. They were not necessarily run by Jesuits, but were just as cruel and abusive. Ok, I'll get off my soap box.
Ironic somehow that the Catholic nun is the good guy in this story, while in real life the Catholic Church mistreated and killed so many of their wards.

Nightwalker:
Interesting premise: a female Kid Curry. It definitely brings a whole range of new dynamics to the relationship. Not sure if I want to go there, though.
Unfortunately it does not really work for me as I cannot get my head around a female 'fastest gun in the West'. Yes, there were women sharpshooters, e.g. like Annie Oakley. But she did not get into gunfights, but appeared on stage. And there were female outlaws, e.g. Belle Starr. But she was not famous for her gun skills, afaik.
Female gunslingers always have a feeling of 20th century insert for me, same as female bounty hunters. I know, I will probably get stoned now for my chauvinistic or anti-feminist attitude and people will point out historic female gunslingers and bounty hunters. I am happy to be proven wrong - as I say, it is just a feeling. Maybe I am over sensitized from having watched Westerns where they replaced the usual hero with a heroine simply to be "modern" (and it doesn't work for me). 
And even if I switch off my disbelief, the story still doesn't work for me: I can't believe that Heyes would shrug off an attempted rape of his cousin (male or female). As protective as he is, he would more likely have torn the guy apart. Even as a hormonal teenager. Maybe even especially then.
Also, butting in on two other guys' duel at the crucial point when guns are already being drawn seems just wrong to me. Not sure if there really existed an etiquette in the West about how to conduct a duel (apart from the old-fashioned ones which I would associate more with the South or high-society East), or if it is simply conditioning through all the Hollywood Westerns. But "sneaking in" a shot this late and without the opponent being aware of facing two adversaries seems cowardly to me. So, young Heyes seems ooc and 6-years-later Kid Curry as well.
Sorry.

Hanna Heyes: It's been good to read one of your stories again. I really like your mix of humor and serious notes. Of course, the gift was perfect, and not only the Kid but all of us were happy about the change of his outfit.

Kattayl: It's no secret that I just love childhood stories, and I really enjoyed reading yours. It's always interesting to see different takes of the boys' youth and how we try to fill the unknown territories of their past with explanations of our own.

Nightwalker: That’s an interesting concept. One of the cousins a female. Would make life a LOT different for them in a lot of ways. So many ways that idea could go.