Santa Barbara 1987

It was a bright Saturday afternoon and the perfect weather for a game of cowboys. Gus had changed out of his usual pleated pants and into some of shawns old jeans to get dirty ("There is no way i'm rolling around in the dirt with my school pants on Shawn!") along with a cowboy hat and a water gun shawn had given him. Shawn was in the backyard squirting the neighbors cat back under the fence with an enthusiastic gleam in his eye and a panache in his firing skills. He had been walking around the house like John Wayne for the past two hours in order to get the essence that is the old west. As Gus joined Shawn in the backyard the two began their escapades as cowboys and began riding horses and robbing trains. After an hour, Shawn decided it was time for a shoot out.

"Hey cowboy Gus! I challenge you... to a drawl!" exclaimed Shawn.

"Its draw, and your on!" said Gus as he turned around from stealing the gold out of a highly advanced bank (according to Gus.) and joined Shawn beneath two trees. They walked up to each other about 1 foot away, turned around, took three steps forward, and turned around to face the other: each with a determined face and excitment oozing out of their fingertips.

"Do you feel lucky...punk?" said Shawn in his best impersenation of Clint Eastwood.

"The better question is...do you?" smirked Gus. Each boy lowered their hands to their water guns and twitched their fingers in anticipation.

"Draw!" yelled Shawn. He grabbed his gun and fired just as Gus was getting ready to fire his. Shawns ammunition went to high however, and hit Gus in his eyes making him drop his gun and stumble backwards into the tree roots and trip.

"Oww!" screamed Gus. He landed on his left elbow which happened to land on a nearby rock.

"Gus! Are you okay?" said Shawn slightly panicked. Thinking his friend wasn't hurt to bad, he continued their game. "Should i go get the local doctor? Perhaps a local Native American witch doctor?" But Gus was still on the ground cradling his now swollen elbow with tears coming out of his eyes.

"Shawn!" shouted Henry. Shawn looked to see his dad striding over to them and had an automatic answer prepared for the upcoming argument. "What happened?" He knelt down, picked up Gus, and carried him into his kitchen.

"Gus did it! I mean it wasn't my fault. Me and Gus were playing cowboys and Gus wasn't fast enough so i killed him,"said Shawn. Gus turned his tear stricken face towards Shawn and glared at him. Shawn just gave him the usual what-am-i-supposed-to-say look and turned back to his father who was by the freezer grabbing something Shawn could not see. Henry walked over to the cupboard, grabbed a dry rag, and placed a frozen pea bag on top. He placed the rag on Gus's elbow. Gus let out an exclaimed "ow!" which in 15 minutes turned into a small sigh of relief as the chill worked its magic on his swollen elbow.

" I'm afraid it looks like its sprained Gus. We are going to drop you off at home and let your parents take you to the hospital."said Henry as if he was reading an old statement from a witness. Shawn looked at Gus and knew there was no way his parents would forgive him for this. A few minutes later and the boys were getting into Henrys truck and driving to Gus's house. When they got there, Shawn got out of the truck with Gus, took his free hand and shook it.

"It was nice knowing you." said Shawn in a depressed manner

"It was nice knowing you too," said Gus trying to hold back more tears as Shawn rattled his elbow. "Maybe we can still hang out at school."

"Nah. Your parents will know i go there. You will probably be sent to a boarding school. I hear them talking about it already anyways." said shawn.

"Then how about penpals?" suggested Gus.

"You know i hate writing. Besides, it wouldn't be the same," sighed Shawn.

"Well maybe when we're older we can play cowboys again," said Gus.

"Gus, don't you see? By then you will have all new friends to play with. Ones that your parents approve of and you will forget all about me. I'll be by myself, alone, grieving for my once happy childhood,"dramatized Shawn. Gus looked for a way out again but couldn't think of anything.

"So i guess this is good bye forever," said Gus.

"Good bye Burton Guster," said Shawn in a professional manner.

"Good bye Shawn Spencer," said Gus. The boys reached out and shook their hands. Just then they heard Gus's mom scream for Gus. The boys looked over and saw that his mom was running to them with worry on her face.

"Burton! What happened!" shouted his mom as she leaned down and observed his elbow. Then she noticed Shawn and gave him the steal eyes. "Come on, son lets take you to the hospital," She grabbed gus's good arm and dragged him to their car. Gus looked over his shoulder and gave shawn one last look before he was placed inside the vehicle. Henry had returned to his truck and was waiting for Shawn to finish climbing in. As he was sitting in the passenger seat, he saw Gus's mom start the car and take off down the street. Sighing once more, Shawn leaned his head against the window.

"It was an accident kid. Don't beat yourself up for it. Besides, I explained everything to his parents. You don't need to worry about him being shipped off to boarding school," said Henry. Shawn was about to ask how he knew but Henry put his hand up and answered first. "I heard you talking to gus about it."

"If it was an accident, then why do i still feel so guilty?" asked Shawn.

"Because your a good kid. Gus knows you didn't do it on purpose. Stop beating yourself up. it was not your fault. We do need to work on your aim though. I think we can start that next week," said Henry as he transfered back into his usual subjects: training Shawn to be a cop. Shawn looked at his father with both gratefulness and annoyance as he once again managed to destroy yet another chance at a father son moment.