Cal
Posts : 333
Join date : 2016-10-21
 | | Subject: Yuma - In four episodes - Episode Two (5,000 words) Sun Feb 05, 2017 8:13 am | |
| ---ooooooOoooooo---
Yuma
By Cal
---ooooooOoooooo---
PART ONE Episode Two
After a couple of hours on the trail of Cain and Nathaniel
“This is rough terrain to be on foot. I sure hope those boys took plenty of water with them.”
They were walking the horses through the heat of the day, but keeping the pace slow and easy. Kid eyed the sharp rocks and the cactus and thought about two teenagers making this journey. He shook his head ‘wouldn’t have been easy’.
“Cain and Nathaniel ran wild all over this ground before Jenny and I took on their home. They’re both very resourceful boys, well …they practically had to bring themselves up. Oh they liked Mr Johansen well enough, I think he gave them an awful lot of freedom...”
Louise looked sad. She would probably have liked to add that the boys hadn’t taken to her efforts, to reign them in, at all.
“I think it’s only the fact that we insisted they attend school, that kept them from running off before this.”
Louise thought she knew which trail the boys would have started out on, so had taken the lead. The partners exchanged a look and a smile behind Louise’s back.
“You think they stayed at the Home so they could go to school?” Heyes sounded incredulous, but also quite impressed.
“Well, Nathaniel is very loyal to Cain. He’s a year younger, and Cain helped him out, early on, when he had troubles with some bullying, since then they’ve been inseparable apparently. And Cain …well he’s at that age …he would have stayed for a certain young lady that he only saw in school.”
Louise smiled, then laughed.
“Oh” smirked Kid.
“Her father didn’t like her mixing with …Well, he thought she was getting a might too wild herself, and he decided to send her back East, to his sister’s… Cain took that hard.”
Louise shook her head.
“I guess that’s when they decided there was nothing left to keep them at the home.”
“Yes, all that love, and warm beds, and full stomachs, must have been awfully hard to bare…” laughed Kid.
“…and being made to go to school instead of having to work. I’m amazed they stuck it so long!” finished Heyes.
“Oh I think I can understand it.”
Louise had had time enough to think about it, and had experienced first-hand the boy’s disappointment with their new circumstances. Cain’s words were still ringing in her ears.
“A boy used to going his own way; suddenly finds his home invaded by women and a new small child. Having rules to keep, and school to attend, and to be expected to do domestic chores that seem trivial and unimportant. Not used to a woman telling him…”
Louise stopped herself, pressing her lips so hard together, white lines appeared around them.
“I should think next to that; the life of an outlaw would appear pretty glamorous don’t you?”
“Oh yeah, me and Kid, we were just about drownin’ in all the glamour” opined Heyes with a shake of his head. “That’s why we begged the Governor to give us an amnesty, we couldn’t take no more.”
“Sheesh!” whistled Kid “Someone’s going to have to put these two straight about a few things when we catch up to them.”
Louise smiled to herself, ‘That’s what I’m hoping for Kid’ she thought.
---ooooooOoooooo---
A small homestead; a long hard day’s walk from the Boys home for a couple of teenagers, in the direction of Benton Turnpike
An old fella is sitting sharpening an axe on a grind stone turned by pedals. He sees the party of three pull their horses up to the hitching rail outside the white board house he shares with Thelma his wife.
“Thelma, get out here, we got company.”
“Howdy” calls Heyes.
“Howdy yerselves. Don’t get too many visitors ‘round here, these days. You folks looking to eat? Thelma an’ me, we ran this place as a staging post, ‘fore they cut back on the line. But we still got plenty of room, and plenty of welcome for travelling folks.” Charmed old Johnno.
“Well that’s a mighty decent offer friend” smiled Kid. “We’d be obliged to you for a bit of shade and water for the horses, and a bite to eat for ourselves.”
Louise looked very pleased to be out of the saddle, as she strode to the door of the house, now held open by a beaming Thelma. It was a very long time indeed since she’d made such a long hot ride. Shade was very welcome.
Johnno corralled the partners towards the house too. “I’ll just water your horses and take them over to the barn, and I’ll come join you.”
---ooooooOoooooo---
Around a big oak table, after some food and a few pleasantries.
“Well now, we did get some young’uns by here not that long ago…” Thelma is placing coffees in front of her guests.
“Horse thieves’ n no goods!” squealed Johnno, surprising the company with his venom.
“Johnno, you still that tongue of your’n, I told you I let them borrow old Pat...”
“Woman, I ain’t senile yet. I know that young Caleb done charmed you with his Hiawatha’in an’ all that fancy poetry…but horse stealin’ is horse stealin’…”
At the mention of Hiawatha and poetry Louise’ face lit up. She smiled and beamed with pride. “That’s so like Cain; he can recite Longfellow’s ‘Song of Hiawatha’ by the yard. He’s really quite remarkable.”
Heyes and Curry nodded but the old couple seemed to have forgotten they had guests. Thelma put her hands on her hips, head wagging from side to side. “If they stole old Pat, then how comes she’s stalled in yonder barn right now, munching hay, happy as the day is long?”
“Well I didn’t say they kept her, Woman! But they sure did stole her!” Johnno’s bottom lip jutted out from under the untidy whiskers on his top lip, as his finger jabbed the top of a nearby stool for emphasis.
“Excuse me…” Heyes tried a polite cough as well to try to get their attention, he’d only asked if they’d seen a couple of near grown boys passing through recently.
“You said Caleb?”
Thelma turned from her exasperating husband and looked into the earnest dark eyed gaze of the ex- Devils Hole Gang leader.
“Yes that was the name he was using. Caleb, Caleb Black, the other two was Billy White and Joe March.” Thelma laughed out a sigh. “Well that’s what they told us.”
The three guests at the table rolled their eyes at the names. Thank goodness Jenny wasn’t there.
“‘Course we could see they were lying, but they needed help, not chastisement.” Continued Thelma sending a meaningful glare Johnno’s way. “Young Jo’s feet were all cut up poor love, and the boys looked like they needed some feeding up.”
“We fed them best we could back at the Home!” Louise had taken this as a slur on her ability to provide food for the boys. “It takes time to get weight back on them” She pleaded. “We couldn’t always find them to feed them.”
“Wait a minute… wait a minute…” Kid looks between the two women. “Who’s this Joe? You said you lost two boys from the Home right…Cain and Nathaniel, they’re calling themselves Caleb and Billy, but who’s this other boy, Joe?”
Louise narrows her eyes, thinking through the boy’s friends and classmates but coming up short.
Thelma supplies the answer. “Oh she didn’t want us to know. No, she was all dressed up in boy’s clothes, that must be why her feet were so badly cut up, she must have borrowed those shoes…”
“Thieves… stole ‘em … didn’t I just tell you woman, they was thieves, …” started Johnno.
“Borrowed I said…” Thelma leaned over her husband getting nose to nose with him. “And borrowed I meant. There’s no need for you to go about callin’ them nice young’uns thieves!”
The row continued, the guests at the table forgotten once more.
“A girl?” Heyes eyes narrowed, looking over to Kid, “A missing girl?”
“Harry’s missing girl?” asked Kid with a slight shake of his head.
“Could be?” Heyes shrugged. “How many can go missin’ at one time?”
“What did she look like?” asked Louise, trying to get Thelma’s attention again. “Jo?”
Thelma had the grace to look a little embarrassed. She had indeed forgotten they had guests. She replaced the scowl with a sweet smile.
“Real pretty, blond hair, blue eyes, a might taller than young Caleb, but you could see he was real smitten…”
“Josephine Marshall!” Louise sounded surprised. “Josephine Marshall left with the boys …and walked all this way?”
“Yes, Josephine …that’s such a pretty name …told us she was Jo March…like we’d never read Little Women…” Thelma shook her head fondly, “Her feet were all cut up, that’s why I said to young Caleb, that old Pat out there was such a smart horse, why she could even find her own way home in the dark. I knew he’d take my meaning, him being such a smart boy, quotin’ all that fine poetry. …Oh it was beautiful what with Billy stood right there.”
“They was horse thieves, woman…” began Johnno again, waking Thelma from her reverie.
“If you hadn’t of scared them off, I might have had a chance to talk them young’uns ‘round, that Caleb was a real smart boy. All your talk of fetchin’ Sheriffs to runaways …you plumb scared them off, you old fool!”
“Woman…”
“Urm…” Heyes was getting good at interrupting the ensuing domestic. “Do you have any idea, which way they was headed?”
“Oh they probably went to try charm the local tribes off their reservation.” Johnno squealed. “Probably went to steal their horses too!”
Kid looked up, ‘Local tribes?’ he thought. His eyes closed. Indians still made him nervous.
“I know where they’re gone.” Thelma shook her head at Johnno but turned a sweet face to Heyes. “They were heading for the freight line, to get them up to the turnpike. It was a fool idea really but I heard young Billy suggest it to Caleb while he was outside chopping all that wood for me.” Thelma looked at the wood and caught sight of Johnno again, “To keep us warm at nights and so I can cook dinner …for a no account, ungrateful…husband!”
Kid looked at the healthy wood pile and nodded appreciatively, Billy, or was it Nathaniel, was no shirker. All the logs had only recently been split, and there was a fine basket of good kindling. The boys had earned their meal.
“Thank you Ma’am” Heyes addressed the back of Thelma’s head as she lay into Johnno again for his shortcomings.
The company,
feeling they’d been forgotten once more,
headed for the door,
quietly.---ooooooOoooooo---
Back on the trail
“We’ll head for the tracks and make sure those kids managed to hop a freight without getting their selves kill…” Kid stopped as he saw the impact of his words were having on Louise’s face.
“Oh I think they’ll be fine Kid,” Heyes grinned at his younger cousin. “This Cain’s meant to be such a smart kid, he’ll have realised they need to be on a bend or on an incline…. Maybe even find a water stop. He’ll know that train’s going to have to be going real slow …especially with a girl in tow…” Heyes faltered under a glare from Louise.
“Josephine Marshall is more than capable of hopping a freight train, of that I’m sure!” Louise has her dander up. “Why she’s more than capable… Bad influence on her… Huh!... If anyone was a bad influence …she knew Cain would have followed her anywhere …if she’s got my boys killed…”
Louise is looking off, way into the distance towards the tracks.
The partners share disbelieving smiles behind her back. Heyes waves his arm in an ‘after you’ gesture.---ooooooOoooooo---
Track side
“Here’s as good a place as any.” opines Curry looking for signs of blood or body parts and finding none. “It’s where I’d of chose.”
“Well I’m sure glad they had the sense to follow the track this far at least, before trying it.” Heyes was also down off his horse looking at the hoof tracks of the big mare. She was near sixteen hands with huge feet, more plough horse than riding horse, made tracking her really easy. Her trail was wandering off from the track at this point, obviously heading back home alone.
“I’m amazed they could be so resourceful.” Louise was looking up the steep bank to the track shaking her head. “Boarding a moving train, from here?”
The partners are also nodding at the achievement.
“If they wanted to be outlaws …that train would have to have been headed North …can’t see them wanting to join up with El clavo down in Mexico, do you Heyes?” smiled Kid sharing the joke to lighten the mood.
“Well I guess we follow the track North then …see where they get off” Heyes thought about it for just a second. “My guess would be next stop or …soon as they get hungry.”---ooooooOoooooo---
Benton Turnpike (next stop)
“We’ll stay here overnight.” Heyes smiled at a weary, dusty Louise. She hadn’t complained once, he liked that. “We got time for a bath, a meal and a soft bed before we head off again in the morning.”
“Wonder what they did, when they got here?” Louise was looking round the rough, not too friendly-looking town huddled close to several crossing rail lines. She noted the telegraph office at the train station.
“Oh I don’t know, smart resourceful kid like Cain…” Heyes nodded to himself, surreptitiously taking in the name of the local sheriff and silently confirming with the Kid that they didn’t need to worry. “…I’m sure he could have come up with a way to get them some food…”
“Yeah …I think a hard working kid like Billy would have found a way to raise a little money… get them a crib for the night.“ Kid scanned the street looking thoughtful. “If I were him, I’d go see if the livery needed any help.”
Louise looked from one partner to the other with a satisfied smile on her face.
---ooooooOoooooo---
Dinner at the town’s only Hotel, that night
Kid was regaling the others with his trip to put the horses at the livery. “I told you he was a hard grafter. The livery owner remembers Billy White. He was real sorry to see him go. I couldn’t get much out of him about that though …he got real cagey …said there’d been some bad business up at the hotel…this hotel. But I couldn’t get any more out of him than that. I think he’s scared of something or someone.”
Heyes and Louise nodded.
“Well I asked at the telegraph office when I sent my telegrams.” Heyes was wiping his mouth on a napkin pushing away from the table. “Seems that our clever Cain …or should I say Caleb Black …talked himself into a job running the telegrams round town for the telegraph clerk. He didn’t say why the kids left town either, but he gave me the impression it wasn’t their decision to leave ...said it like they’d been run off or something.” He screwed up his face, frustrated not to have gathered all the facts. “At least we know they would have had enough money to buy food.”
“And we know the boys at least, were sleeping over at the livery” put in Curry.
“So where was little Miss Josephine Marshall, while my boys were grafting all over town, to feed her?” Louise rolled her eyes. “And she probably insisted on in sleeping in a proper bed here at the hotel. Spent all their money.” Louise looked towards the kitchen. “If there was trouble in this hotel, then the kitchen staff will know all about it. I think it’s time I took a professional interest in the catering.”---ooooooOoooooo---
A knock on the adjoining door of two hotel rooms
“Come on in Louise” Heyes called “What did you find out?”
The boys sit on the beds and offer Louise the only chair.
“Well first, I owe Miss Josephine Marshall an apology. She took a job here, in the Hotel as Joanna March, making beds and fetching bath water and such. She was given a bed in the attic and was told to eat in the kitchen.”
“Well that’s real good isn’t it Louise?” Curry’s confused by Louise’s sad face.
Louise sighed and blew out her cheeks. She fixed Heyes and Kid with a look of utter misery.
“The night the boys had to leave, that poor child had been working all day, and …well there’s no easy way to say this …seems when she went downstairs to fix herself something to eat in the kitchen …the owner…well he tried to force his attentions on her.”
“What!” Kid is rising, hand on gun butt, blue eyes blazing …Louise grabs his arm, shaking her head.
“Seems Cain was in the lobby delivering a telegram to the front desk. He must have been hoping to see Josephine. He heard the commotion in the kitchen, heard Josephine cry out…”
Louise looked like she wanted to burst into tears.
“He found them …he’s got this temper …he near beat that man to death…”
Heyes and Curry whooped, throwing fists into the air. Louise held a hand to her face, shaking her head quietly till the partners stilled.
“No …no …you don’t understand. Nathaniel had come looking for his friends …he’s a strong boy …he had to drag Cain off and tried to calm him down. He’s only thirteen but he watches Cain close like that. That man wasn’t moving … the sheriff was called …and the boys both ran off!”
Louise had her head in her hands determined not to cry.
“When those boys fled this town, they believed Cain had killed a man with his bare hands. They must be so scared…”
Louise’s eyes shut tightly.
“But he didn’t. That creep lived, right?” Kid sits opposite her patting her shoulder.
“What happened to Josephine?” asked Heyes quietly.
Louise looked up at them, tears replaced with determination.
“I don’t know yet …but I’m going to find out in the morning…”
---ooooooOoooooo---
Breakfast in the café across the street from the hotel, Louise has already left to carry on investigating.
“Oh no, what’s he doing here?”
Kid’s head nearly drops into his breakfast plate, but he manages to plaster on a false smile, as Harry Briscoe enters the room to join them for breakfast.
“Harry? Didn’t think you be able to get here so quickly?” Heyes stands and pumps Harrys hand, smiling in full dimpled glee, resting a hand on Kids shoulder as he attempts to rise. “I only sent you a telegram yesterday.”
Kids face is a picture, “What?!?!”
Harry sits, calling for coffee.
“Well it sounded like you might o’ had an interesting development in my case.” Harry drops his head towards Heyes and whispers, “Good idea to sign that telegram Rembakker, Heyes. There’s Bannerman men on every street corner back in Yuma…it’s like a convention!” He sneers in distaste. “And they’re asking all over town for you two.”
The cigar is out and the lighting pantomime begins. If anything, Kids face turns it up a notch in the, ‘another one of your genius plans nearly got us caught Heyes’, department.
“You invited Harry to Benton Heyes!” Kid makes this sound like an accusation. “Well I sure hope none of them agents back in good old Yuma were thinking; ‘I wonder where old Harry’s going’? And maybe came along for the ride…”
“You weren’t followed were you Harry?” Heyes didn’t look at all worried.
“No! …no…. at least….” Harry didn’t sound very confident, his hands started playing with the cigar in front of him. It was suddenly really interesting.
“Of course you weren’t, smart detective like you” assured Heyes smacking Harry on the back, heavily.
Kid rolled his eyes, he never the less started looking for exits.
Heyes fixed Harry with a larcenous twinkle in his dark eyes “Tell us some more about this big case you’re working on Harry.” He nods encouragement.
“Yeah tell us all about this missing girl Harry” encourages Curry, as ever, catching on that Heyes is working an angle.
“Well…” Harry takes a sip of the coffee that’s just appeared in front of him, “I wouldn’t call it a big case, boys. Ermmm …She’s a girl …named Josephine Marshall …from Yuma …and …she’s gone missing.”
The boys exchange a ‘Could have guessed that much look’, but keep quiet and nod to encourage Harry to say more.
“Well, Her Uncle ...he’s well connected …he owns a copper mine not far from Carson City …and he’s got some railroad connections too.”
Harry has got off the point.
“The girl, Harry…” sighs Kid.
“Well, I’m working for the uncle see; he’d read the piece in the newspaper, all about me solving the Blight murder. He needed a top notch detective to find his wife’s niece …He only wanted the best!”
Harry sits up straight, straightening his tie and favouring his companions with his great detective pose.
“Top notch Harry?” Heyes slapped Harry lightly on the back with an impressed nod “He must be willing to pay a top notch price, for the very best, huh?”
“Well…” Harry tried to look bashful but couldn’t prevent a very proud smile breaking out on his face. “I can certainly attract the best clientele these days’ boys …now the good words out.”
“So there’ll be room to cut us in on the deal, if we help you find the girl Harry?” Heyes stared frankly at their old friend, a heavy hand on his shoulder, nodding encouragement.
“Be like old times, us all working together again, Harry” smiled Kid, a heavy hand on Harry’s other shoulder.
“Well …well …the thing is boys…” Harry stammered.
“’Corse …you remember all the help we gave you, getting that reputation, now don’t you Harry?” Heyes dropped his voice to a low rasp.
“And you really want to find this girl, don’t you Harry?” It was a frank and heartfelt statement from the Kid.
His implied incompetence wasn’t lost on Harry. His eyes narrowed. He knew he needed their help, but he’d almost got himself believing he was a great detective.
“If you two know something about the disappearance of this poor, unfortunate girl…” he began.
“We do.” Stated Heyes “And it’s going to cost you a hundred dollars…”
“Apiece” beamed Curry.
Harry must be able to charge high fees indeed these days because he hardly took a second to think this over.
“Done!” he almost shouted.
The partners looked at each other, they should probably have pitched in higher. Never mind it was money for old rope. Louise had gone to do all the actual investigating; I wonder if any of them thought it might be fairer to negotiate a cut for her?
---ooooooOoooooo---
Back at the hotel later the same day
Louise knocked the adjoining door lightly.
“Come on in Louise” Heyes called “What did you find out?”
“Plenty.” Sighed out Louise, sitting on the end of one of the beds this time. “I’ve just had tea with the local pastor and his wife …and a very confused …Josephine Marshall.”
The partners exchange a look, ‘that two hundred dollars is in the bag.’
“She’s using her own name now, and she’s wearing some fine girl’s clothes.” Louise smiled at this. “I think hardly anyone, but the Pastor and his very kind wife, would realise she was the same unfortunate creature from the hotel that night.”
Louise shook her head slowly.
“Seems one of the staff, a lady that also worked at the Hotel, whisked her away to her good friend at the vicarage, as soon as she could… after …Seems the Hotel owner and the Sheriff …they go back a long way. There’s been other instances …other girls …and these other girls …they haven’t fared too well under the law in this town.”
Louise closed her eyes for a moment, swallowing the anger.
“I feel I’ve wronged that girl somehow. None of this was her fault. Anyway, I’ve promised, I’ll see her home safe to her Ma.”
Louise eyed the partners to see what effect this revelation was going to have on them.
“That’s a really good idea, Louise.” Heyes places his hands on her shoulders nodding earnestly. “And we have this good friend, someone you can both put your trust in, that will escort you both, safely all the way to Yuma.”
Heyes tries to hide the smile as he glances to Kid. Kid rolls his eyes, ‘easiest two hundred ever.’
“Of course that means Jenny and I will be relying on you two, to go on and find Cain and Nathaniel …and bring them home …”
Louise fixes each of the partners with a wily glare “You will, won’t you. I know you wouldn’t want to let Jenny down.”
It wasn’t a question.
“Of course we’re going to find the boys.” Kid, ever practical adds. “But we still don’t know what they look like.”
“I was getting to that.” Louise gives Heyes a shrewd look “Cain is dark, hair and eyes, he has a look of you, Mr Heyes.”
Heyes shrugs, so.
“I had quite a talk with Josephine Marshall. I asked her why they’d all took off like that. Seems, she wasn’t ready to settle in her Uncle’s place just yet, to become a young lady; she liked the freedom afforded her in Yuma. She told me, Cain had caught her up in his big plans. Seems, he overheard that visitor and Samuel Johansen talking in their cups one night. He heard that, like young Abel’s mother, Cain’s mother had been a saloon girl from a place called Harris town. He heard Abel was his half-brother. He got it into his head, that his father was some big outlaw up in Wyoming, at a place called Devils Hole.”
Louise’s eyes found Heyes’ and her eye brows lifted.
Kid looked from one to the other. “Wait a minute …you don’t think…. Heyes…is the…?” He explodes laughing. “Heyes …. a father…. Hah!”
Heyes doesn’t know whether to deny the possibility to Louise, as silly and near impossible …he’d have only been …well you do the maths …or defend the possibility that he could be a father, to his crowing partner.
He looks in turmoil.
“No, I’m not saying that Thaddeus …I’m just stating that Cain has it in his head, that his father is at Devils Hole. Now add to that, that they both think that he’s killed someone.” Louise sighed in earnest. “It doesn’t take a great deal of imagination to work out where the boys are headed.”
The partners shake their heads biting back huge grins.
“They’re a very, very long way from Devils Hole Louise.”
Heyes is glad to change the subject. “I checked the train times for the evening they left town. I think our boys would have tried jumping another freight to leave town in a hurry, but there was only a passenger train that day, going up to Tarpool Leap. There’s another train headed that way tonight. I think me and the Kid should be on it.”
“What does Billy …I mean Nathaniel look like Louise?” asks Kid casually.
Heyes’ face splits into a gleeful grin. “Maybe he’s got blond curly hair and big blue eyes Kid?” he taunts.
“Nathaniel’s mother was a Navajo squaw. She died in childbirth, and his father, the town blacksmith, blamed the boy and drank himself to death. He’s got his mother’s looks, but he’s big and strong like his father. Don’t worry Mr Curry, I won’t be holding you responsible for Nathaniel.” Louise fixed Heyes with another wide eyed look.
Heyes screwed up his face and scowled.
“Dark hair and dark eyes, with a touch of genius, don’t mean nothing.” His eyes narrow as he says it out loud. He shakes his head, it’s not possible. “And Harris Town is crawling with outlaws.”
Curry, off the hook, is revelling in his partner’s discomfit, and can’t hold the laughter in any longer.---ooooooOoooooo--- Outside the telegraph office late in the day
“Was her Uncle pleased Harry?” asked Heyes, holding out a gloved hand for the money.
“A very pleasing and swift conclusion to my investigation.“ Harry quotes looking all puffed up with success.
“Urhum!” coughs Kid, waving empty gloved palm under Harry’s nose.
Harry removes his wallet and counts out a hundred dollars onto each palm.
“Thank you, Harry.” Smiles Kid.
Heyes pockets the stash, beaming. Heyes’ turn to cough. Kid stashes the cash just as Louise arrives with a very pretty, blond, fifteen-year-old girl in tow.
“There’s a stage to Yuma in the morning.” Louise smiles at the boys.
Josephine turns scarlet as each of the partners greet her gallantly.
“Remember, to send word as soon as you know anything, please. Mr Smith. Mr Jones.” A brief kiss for each. “We’ll be waiting to hear from you.”
“Ladies,” announces Heyes formerly “It is my great pleasure to introduce you to Mr Harry Bartholomew Briscoe. Harry, Miss Louise Carson and Miss Josephine Marshall.”
Harry is chivalry itself.
“Safe journey ladies” smiles Kid. “I know Harry here will take great care of you both, after all, he knows how much you mean to us.” Kid fixes Harry with a meaningful look.
Harry tips his hat offering an arm to the girl and then, with a soppy grin on his face that neither of the partners have ever witnessed before, offers Louise his arm. “I think dinner is on me Ladies” he smiles. “Shall we?”
Heyes and Kid watch Harry stroll off between the lovely ladies to dinner and realise they have a train to catch and haven’t got time to eat.
“Come on Thaddeus, don’t want to miss our train.” Heyes is already walking away still amused by Harry’s love smitten face. Kid’s brain is trying to work out how he’s managed to miss dinner.
---ooooooOoooooo---
END OF PART ONE | |
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