Not Again!

Yes I know, mine are all long!  I think The Trial of JC is the longest.  I always warned people to bring sustenance before they started reading some of them.

How frustrating it must be not to be able to talk!  So Louisville is being left behind for New York?  Looking forward to their adventures there.

Thanks, SK! Their? Heyes and Leutze, yes. Heyes and Curry? Parted for the moment.
HW

It's always hard to see the boys part company. But you are setting them up to grow in ways they have never done before, independently of each other. It may have been the only way to get one of them to develop a potentially permanent relationship with a woman, never before being in one place long enough or without the distraction of his partner. And if Heyes is ever to recover he certainly needs to go to where the treatment is. This particular challenge he must overcome on his own without the usual help of his partner. Definitely a time of change and growth for our heroes. Loving the details you are adding, HW.

Thank you, JB. When I was first posting this story, I guess I was so anxious to get the broad arc out there that I neglected the details that are the most human things about the experiences I describe. As I went along, the story got more detailed as I responded to reader posts. I'm glad to be able to go back now and flesh out more moments in the early parts. Yes, I do agree that some kinds of growth will happen only with some time apart for the partners.
HW

After this momentous talk, Cat and the Kid had to rush around the saloon preparing for the day’s customers. Meanwhile, Heyes and the doctor had a short session together. The silent outlaw was so excited and uncertain that he found it hard to concentrate. When they broke for lunch, he was not close to recovering any additional words. “Don’t worry, Joshua,” said the doctor. “You have a lot on your mind. You’ll settle in and make progress in New York, if you work half as hard as you’ve been working here. But we both need to eat, don’t we?”

Heyes choked out, “Yes.” The doctor smiled. This patient had grit. He would need it.

While Heyes hungrily ate chicken soup and fresh-baked bread in the kitchen, the Kid and Cat took the doctor aside in the room next door. Curry asked softly, to be sure the keen-eared Heyes could not hear the conversation, “Doc, Joshua Smith isn’t just my friend. He’s my cousin. The rest of our family is dead. If he has a guardian, it’s me. Please be honest with us. We need to know. How far to do you think he can get? And how long do you think that will take? I know you don’t really know, but how long do you think he’ll be gone?”

Leutze looked at Jones, the doctor’s pale blue eyes telling the stricken man’s partner that the news would not be good. “You’re right. We need to be honest with one another. Like I said before, Mr. Jones, there is no guarantee of any further progress. Your cousin knows that. I do hope, and fully expect, that there will be much further progress. But I cannot even guess how far he will be able to toward speaking normally again. The process won’t be fast. And I must say that you should not assume he will ever speak normally again.” The doctor paused, seeing the distress in the faces of the man and woman facing. “I don’t want to discourage you, but as Mr. Smith already understands, a complete or nearly complete recovery is very rare in so complete a loss. If he can get far enough with speaking to function in society, it will be a triumph.” Cat gasped and the Kid took her hand. To give them a moment to recover, the doctor went on, “Don’t worry about money – my sponsors will surely cover his treatment and his needs for housing, food, clothing, medical care, and other necessities. We will ask him to do some work around the clinic, when he is up to it, to help offset what he can.”

Curry nodded. “I’m glad. He don’t like taking charity.” But Curry repeated his question. “But Doc, how long do you think? Until he can’t get farther with you?”

The doctor didn’t say anything – he just looked into two pairs of anxious blue eyes. Finally, Curry spoke for him. “Months?” Still, he met with silence. “Years?”

Finally, Leutze nodded. “If he’s lucky. Less time would mean less progress. And I know nothing yet about what it will take to get him writing – if he ever can. I can’t ask everything from him at once. I have no doubt that he will work hard and get as far as he possibly can. My staff and I will move heaven and earth to help Mr. Smith to speak and to write again as rapidly as possible. We want him to live as normal a life as he possibly can.”

Cat took a handkerchief out of her apron pocket and wiped her eyes. Curry could feel her trembling. He put his arm around her and swallowed hard. The grief that his lady was feeling was nothing compared to the emotional kick in the stomach Kid Curry was suffering. The Kid hid his feelings as well as he could. The doctor could not know how far from normal his new patient’s life had always been. If the doctor ever found out who Heyes was, the situation could get even worse. Much worse. Even if that never happened, Curry felt terribly afraid for his partner. Now that he understood Heyes’ predicament better, Curry felt incredibly lucky to have his health and to have a woman who loved him. Heyes had neither. Peggy was just a business girl who was being nice to Heyes – not a faithful lover. And even Heyes’ physical strength was still not quite back to normal. Now, Heyes would not have a partner beside him, either.

Curry’s voice was a little hoarse, “Thank you, Doctor. We surely appreciate your work for my partner, don’t we, Cat?”

Cat nodded, unable to speak for the moment.

Curry said, “He’ll always be welcome with us, any time he can take time off. We’ll make sure he knows that. Doc, I’ll go get train tickets east for both of you, for the 10:22 tomorrow.”

The doctor nodded. “Thank you, Mr. Jones. I appreciate it. I’m going to go and visit with Dr. Grauer. I want to be sure I totally understand Mr. Smith’s physical condition and what I can do to help him with the strain of the long train ride.” This sounded very strange to Kid Curry, who remembered plenty of far more stressful train and horse rides when he and Heyes had been in far worse physical condition. To think that a doctor would be watching out for Heyes was at least some comfort.

The Kid walked down the street to the railroad station office in the brilliant sunlight of a relatively warm autumn day. The mountains loomed blue and grey and white in the background. He went up to the ticket window where a stout man with a grey mustache looked up at him.
“What can I do for you, Mr. Jones?”

“Two tickets to New York City, please, on the 10:22 tomorrow,” said the Kid.

“Round trip?” asked the station master, who was the little station’s only employee.

“No. One way,” answered Curry unhappily as he put the cash on the counter.

When he got back to Christy’s Place, the Kid went to find his partner. After all, the next day they would be parted for what sounded like a long, long time. Heyes’ room was empty. His coat was gone. Curry went out on the porch and looked up and down the street. His partner was nowhere to be seen. But Curry had a good idea that he knew where Heyes would be. He hoped he was in time to catch his partner.

The Kid turned and headed for the Christy’s Place stable. Sure enough, there was Heyes in Clay’s stall, saddling up his horse.
“Say, partner, can I come along?” asked the Kid. The pair hadn’t ridden together since the day Heyes had been shot.

Heyes nodded and gave Curry a strained little smile. He glanced toward the hotel with a question in his eyes. Curry understood instantly. “Sure, I’ll go tell Cat where we’re going. I know she’ll give me the afternoon off – she ain’t unreasonable.”

In no time, Curry was back with a pair of canteens and some jerky and cold biscuits in case they got hungry. He found Heyes currying Blackie for him. Soon, the pair was saddled up and riding out of town. They took it easy. Neither horse had had a lot of work lately and Clay had only recently recovered from being lame. Of the two men, only Curry had been in the saddle at all in the last month.

The boys loped easily along the road, and then walked the horses up a snowy path into the mountains. The Kid didn’t speak a word, since Heyes couldn’t answer him. They simply rode through the glorious mountains under a blue sky in companionable silence. Finally, they came up to a high slope overlooking the town. They stopped and just looked down at the picturesque sight. The Kid could hear Heyes panting just a little. Even this mild ride had tired him. “Guess we’d better head back,” said Curry when his partner had been breathing easily for several minutes.

Heyes nodded. Then he started, hearing the sound of horses approaching up the trail behind them. The partners’ eyes met. This was a pretty place, but if the approaching men on horseback were lawmen or bounty hunters after them, the partners could be trapped if they didn’t get away from the ledge fast. Yet if they spurred away at top speed, it could make it obvious that they had reason to flee from strangers. If the riders coming behind them were just regular guys out hunting, there was no reason to worry. There was no way to know if the men were dangerous or not before they met them.

The partners neck reined their horses around sharply and they started down the downhill trail at an easy trot. It would be easy to speed up if they needed to do so. Heyes might be a bit out of shape and out of practice, but this kind of situation was still something he knew how to handle.

Soon, the two reformed outlaws met the met they had heard riding up. It was a pair of scruffy local hunters they had often seen in Christy’s Place. The men tipped their hats to each other as they crossed past one another on the trail. After the hunters were behind them, Heyes exhaled hard in relief. He looked hesitantly at the Kid. What would he do if danger threatened him in New York City or on the way there, when he had no partner at his side?

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That evening, Heyes played in one last poker game at Christy’s Place. He won a little and quit early. The men at the table, knowing Mr. Smith was going east in the morning, shook his hand “Good luck, Smith!” said a local miner.

“Yeah, hope you come back talkin’,” added a mine owner. Heyes nodded, but couldn’t quite manage a smile.

Peggy came up to him as he left the table, putting away a little handful of bills. She put a hand on his arm. “Honey, they tell me you’re headed east tomorrow with that doctor. I’ll miss you. You want to go up and say good-bye proper like?”

Heyes looked at her uncertainly and shrugged. Then he smiled. He didn’t want to be too tired in the morning, but who knew when he’d have another chance to be with a nice woman who liked him? As they went up the stairs together, Peggy sidled up close and said, “Joshua, come on. We know each other pretty good. Smith ain’t your real name, is it?”

Heyes stopped in his tracks and stared hard at Peggy. Was she taking a last chance at what she was guessing was a big reward? Maybe not, but Heyes had just lost his taste for her charms. He turned sharply away from the little dark whore and headed for his own room.


“Aw, honey, I won’t ask no more!” said Peggy, but Heyes didn’t turn back to her. He would spend his last night at Christy’s alone and feeling very lonely, indeed.

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As Cat and the Kid were getting ready to turn out the lamp in the room they now shared, Cat could tell that her man was upset. As Curry sat on the bed unbuttoning his shirt, he was tense and distracted. Cat gently said to Curry, stroking his shoulder, "Kid, I asked you twice already, did you lock up? Didn't you hear me?"

"Yes, honey. I locked up. I think I did. Sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"I know what's wrong. You're going to miss, him. But Heyes'll be fine, Jed. He's been through an awful lot in the last month and he's figured it all out. He'll figure out New York, too, with the best aphasia doctor in the country looking after him."

Curry wiggled settling into bed, "Hah! He's figured it out with my help - and yours! Heyes can't hardly find both his boots without my help."

Cat kissed Curry on the cheek, "I do know him pretty well by now and I think he's got more sense than you give him credit for."

The Kid sighed and turned out the lamp. "I'm sorry to contradict you, sweetheart, but you don't know the first thing about the man. You've never met Heyes, not really. He's been out of his head most of the time, and not sayn' a word. Silence - that just ain't Heyes. When he's right he's the biggest talker I ever met in my whole life. He lives on dreams and theories and ideas and hot air. He says he likes it when I worry 'cause I look after him better. He's had me to look after him and back him up since he was two. Or, well, as soon as I wasn't a baby. God only knows what he'll do on his own."

Cat grinned indulgently at the Kid. "He must be happy now, 'cause you're worrying like a mother hen. I bet he'd say he's looked after you your whole life and he'll be worrying about how you'll do without him. At least he knows you've got me to keep you in line." Cat put her arms around the Kid's bare chest. He took her in his arms and kissed her.

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But the next morning as Curry came into his hotel room a couple of hours before the train east was due to leave, Heyes was uncertain again. Something was bothering him and he was having a hard time communicating it to the Kid. He pointed to himself and down the street at something and to where Leutze's room was. He couldn't get across what he wanted to say. He was going red with fury at his inability.

The Kid thought and thought and then it came to him. The place down the street that Heyes was pointing at was the Sherriff's office. "You want to tell Dr. Leutze your real name?" Heyes nodded tensely. "Are you losing your grip?" Curry asked, way too loud. Leutze's room was right next door. Heyes shushed his partner quickly.

Curry went on in a furious whisper, "When did you go and get all honorable about telling the truth? That's rich, that is. Did you ever think that if you tell him who you are, you're also telling him who I am? In case you hadn't noticed, I'm in love with Cat Christy. I don't want to move too fast, but I am starting to think about things. With the Sheriff looking the other way, maybe I could even stay here with Cat for good. If the word about us doesn't get out and spoil everything. When you're all healed up, you could come back and do the books and manage the saloon floor for us, if you want to." Heyes looked his gratitude at the Kid, but his partner had more to say.

"I looked into Sheriff Wilde. I'm sure he knows who we are. I remember him from someplace. I think he might have been part of the posse that chased us out of Denver after we robbed the Merchants Bank. I saved his life a couple of weeks ago and I know damn well he recognized me.

But there's this, too. He's courting the Widow Stuart, who was married to the man who made the biggest strike around here. He made a fortune on that gold and now she has it. If the Sheriff marries that lady, $20,000 would be nothing to him. He could just leave me and you be, and never miss the cash. Unless somebody goes around causing trouble and pointing out that he's looking the other way. That could get him thrown in jail himself! So no, you ain't gonna tell Dr. Leutze who you really are and I sure ain't gonna tell him! You might trust him not to turn us in, but it hasn't always turned out that great when you've trusted a man's character. Just think what $20,000 could do for Leutze's clinic! You may be a genius at math, but sometimes you've ain't got the sense that God gave geese!"

Heyes shrugged in resignation and went back to packing his saddle bags. He would be going to New York City as Joshua Smith after all. Honesty wasn't a possible policy for a man who couldn't write a single letter or say more than two words, neither one of which was Hannibal or Heyes.

The End – for the Moment

The next story in the sequence is, you guessed it: "Hannibal Heyes Goes to New York."

Love this line, and so sums up Hannibal quickly and to the point.  'He lives on dreams and theories and ideas and hot air.'

Heyes must be losing the edge if he thinks its a good idea to tell the doctor who he really is.  Either that, or their relationship has grown to the point where Heyes actually does trust him. It'll be interesting to find out how long he'll be able to keep the secret.  It could be a very interesting train ride.

It appears Heyes wants to get off on the right foot with his doctor by telling the truth. However Kid is right, it's a bit premature for that. Looking forward to the next installment. Thanks, HW.

Yes, Heyes gets ahead of himself sometimes. It's so rare for him to have an advocate other than the Kid. But when he's alone with no partner by his side, he really will be helpless without his silver tongue.
HW

It's interesting to see a weakened and vulnerable Hannibal Heyes opening up to his doctor.  I can't wait to see if this turns out to be a good idea or not!  Another great chapter, Helen.

Thanks, SK! That turns out to be a question that takes a long time to answer in full. But when it is answered, it is answered very fully. I'm glad you enjoyed it!
HW

Great premise. Since I have only read the rewritten chapters, I am not sure of the changes. I am enjoying the story, Cat, and your characterizations of the boys. How frustrating and scary for both of them.