Nothing to be scared of.
Pa came striding into the kitchen his face creased in concern as the rest of the family were just finishing breakfast on a hot August morning. Jed in trouble for some prank he and Hannibal had pulled on Old Grumpy Fletcher, was grounded and had a whole extra list of chores to do, so was consoling himself with extra ham and eggs, as his older brothers muttered about where on earth he put it all.
He looked around at them, and in a tone that Jed had never heard before, said quietly. "I saw a large group of riders on the crest of the hill. They ain't anyone I recognise and they don't look friendly."
Ma turned away from the stove, wiping her hands on her apron and exchanged a look with his brothers as they stood quickly.
Jed didn't really understand what was happening, but the sudden tension in the small room, made his skin prickle and the hairs on his arms stand on end. He pushed his half empty plate away, no longer hungry and started to ask what was wrong.
But Pa spoke over him, words tumbling out of him as fast as Jed had ever heard them. "You all have to get hid, and I'll deal with this."
Nathaniel and Jacob shook their heads. "No, Pa, we ain't going nowhere. We're old enough to help."
His Ma's lilting tones broke in as she nodded over at him and said firmly. "Just take the young 'un Niall, because I ain't going anywhere neither."
"Maggie!" His Pa's voice held a desperate plea, but everyone in the kitchen knew it would fall on deaf ears, as they all recognised that firm tone and chin tilt. It always meant there was no budging her.
"No, Niall, there's no point arguing. We don't have the time. Take him and hurry back."
His Pa accepting that she would not be moved, walked over to his youngest boy, lifting him into his arms, silencing his protests with a fierce. "Not now, Jed." Recognising the tone as his Pa's don't push it one, he subsided, and his breakfast began to lay heavy on his now desperately uneasy stomach.
Jed didn't struggle as his Pa walked over to his Ma, still carrying him and kissed her on the cheek, as she put her arms tightly round them both. "Love you, Jedediah Curry." Then she released them and turned to her two oldest sons, who were watching the exchange, their faces creased in worry and said. "You know where the rifles are, boys."
Nathaniel and Jacob, saluted her quickly in silence, nodded once, then simply headed to where Jed knew their hunting rifles were kept. Pa watched them go, then cleared his throat and kissed his Ma again, before drawing back and resting his forehead on hers. "I'll be right back, Maggie darlin'."
Jed cleared his throat, wanting to ask what was going on, as the fear and almost desperate resolve that he could feel in the air, were scaring him, but when his father's grip tightened and he shook his head fiercely, Jed instead continued to hold his tongue.
Still holding him tightly enough that his chest felt constricted, Pa ran out of the house and strode rapidly across their small piece of land. "Don't talk son, just do what I tell you."
Jed didn't argue or protest, knowing that something was dreadfully wrong and simply clung to his father's back, his heart thudding loud in his ears.
It wasn't until he reached the door to their small nearly underground storm shelter and flung the door open, that his Pa finally released his hold and lowered him down to ground, before almost forcing him down the rickety stairs into the gloom, as he followed behind, two steps at a time.
After he was firmly ensconced, Jed opened his mouth again to ask what was happening, hoping he'd finally be allowed an answer, but Pa hushed him, took a deep breath, kissed him on his forehead and stroked his hair with such desperate affection, that it brought a panicked lump to his son's throat. He then said softly, with a calmness that Jed knew was false. "You just need to stay here and be quiet and everything will be fine." He paused and added with a gentle stroke on Jed's cheek. "There ain't nothing to be scared of son, it'll be over soon, and we'll all be safe."
Pa hugged him one final time, before he let him go and ran back up the steps. With his hand on the door, he stopped, glanced back, a sad smile on his face and mouthed. "I love you, boy," then he was gone. Jed heard the heavy bolt drop, his stomach in his mouth, knowing something terrible was about to happen.
The door was so firmly bolted, that even when he realised his family were losing whatever fight they were in, he couldn't get out of what felt like a prison, despite hammering and struggling so fiercely against the solid wood of the heavy door, that his knuckles bled. When the noise outside intensified, he left his fruitless struggle to open the door and ran to the tiny window and peered out, only able to watch helplessly as his family were murdered one by one and his house was burnt to the ground.
After it was all over and his world had fallen into eerie silence, he sat at the window, with so many tears pouring down his cheeks that he thought and almost hoped that he might drown in them.
There he stayed for what seemed like hours, his muscles frozen, staring at the battered unmoving forms of what had been his family, until Hannibal, his own face streaked with tears and with a wild look in his eyes came barrelling in, yelling, and hollering his name to finally release him.
As Jed blinked painfully in the bright sunlight at the top of the steps, numb with shock, Hannibal pulled him into a brief but fiercely affectionate hug, his tears seeping into Jed's shirt, offering a strange kind of comfort, reassuring him that even now, he wasn't completely alone.
They buried Jed's family first, then did the same for Hannibal's, desperately not crying as they did so.
Once they'd finished their grim task, they stood in silence, staring at the burnt remains of the Heyes family home for a helpless few minutes, as the fact that they were facing the total wreckage of the only lives they'd ever known, began to sink in. Then Hannibal cleared his throat and Jed looked over at him. "We gotta go to town, Jed."
Jed nodded, his throat too tight to speak and together they started the long walk to Lawrence. Throughout the whole stumbling trip, they kept their arms tightly slung round each other's shoulders, clinging to each other in an attempt to offer each other strength.
They finally reached the outskirts of town as dusk fell and were soon scooped up in the comforting arms of Mrs Fletcher, the doctor's wife.
Jed opened his mouth to tell her what had happened, though judging by her tears and sad expression, she already knew, but nothing came out, so he shut it again. He looked helplessly over at Hannibal, who patted him gently on the shoulder, swallowing hard before saying softly. "Our families, they're all dead, Ma'am...we buried them, then we didn't know what else to do, so we came here." She nodded and murmured comforting words that neither of them believed, but were grateful for anyway.
That terrible day was the first time Jed really remembered hearing those words, and they would be forever burned into his memory, because they were almost the last thing his Pa had ever said to him.
XXX
The second time he heard them, was just three weeks after they'd lost their families, when Preacher Johnson was saying goodbye, as he left them at Valpo. "There's nothing to be scared of boys, I've heard good things about this place. They'll look after you well."
Valpo proved to be what Jed thought hell must be like, and nearly every day they lived there, he wondered what he'd done for God to hate him so. But he never dared ask anyone, not even Hannibal, fearing the answer, and simply endured what he could and fought against what he couldn't.
He and Hannibal survived just over two years, until two weeks after Jed turned twelve, another severe beating left them both in the hospital wing for the second time in a month.
They lay in beds next to each other, and as Jed ached from head to foot, refusing to cry, despite the throbbing unrelenting agony coursing through his body, he looked over at his cousin, who although obviously in a lot of pain himself, was still trying to smile through swollen lips. He nodded in vehement agreement, ignoring the the fireworks it set off behind his eyes as Hannibal said softly. "We're outta here Jed, soon as we can walk or maybe even just crawl."
A week later in the gloomy dark ,though still stiff and sore, and at times unsteady, they crept out of the godforsaken place, both equally determined not to stay in the hellhole a moment longer.
And as they stood wondering what way to go, Hannibal put his hand on Jed's shoulder. "I know you're scared Jed, I am too and we oughta be...'cos what we're doing ain't gonna be easy."
With the light from the moon, Jed saw his friend's face break into a puzzled expression as he laughed, but he couldn't help it, so very reassured by the honesty of his friend. "How we gonna decide which way to go, Hannibal?"
"I was thinking maybe a coin toss, Jed, as I ain't got a clue and at least that way there ain't no blame on either of us, if it ain't the right way." He dug into his pocket and winced in pain when his shoulder cracked as he pulled a coin out of his pocket. "Call it..."
XXX
The third time Jed heard the phrase, was a few years later, when he and Heyes were arguing about a con that Heyes wanted them to pull, one that Kid was sure would be a disaster and end up with them neck deep in trouble.
After several minutes of pacing up and down their hotel room, Heyes suddenly stopped and looked over at him, a glint in his eye with his hands on his hips. He grinned and chuckled, before adding in a tone that set the Kid's teeth on edge. "Kid, you're worrying over nothing, it'll go as smooth as silk. I remember everything we was taught by Soapy and I've planned it to the last detail, so nothing can go wrong. You just listen to me and do what I say, and there won't be nothing to be scared of."
In the last few weeks, Heyes had become increasingly likely to use an arrogant tone when talking to him and had seemingly developed the attitude that anything Kid might say to disagree with him was wrong, and simply refused to even consider what he was saying, which made the dismissively spoken words feel like a slap across the face, and Kid was suddenly too furious to even attempt to be reasonable any longer.
He blurted out angrily. "I ain't one of your marks Heyes, so you don't get to treat me like I'm stupid and you don't get to lie to me. You do what you want, but I sure ain't sticking round to watch the mess you're gonna get yourself into."
Before Heyes could break the tense silence, he had already gathered his things together and was stalking to the hotel room door. Once there, he looked back and said. "Please, Heyes, don't do it." When his friend didn't reply and merely shrugged, he simply walked out, his back stiff and his throat tight, even though he heard Heyes asking him to just hold up and listen.
XXX
Heyes went ahead with pulling the con anyway, and found himself fleeing the small town, pursued by the law, left with no other choice than to join an outlaw gang, as it went every bit as wrong as his absent friend had said it would.
XXX
Jed stood facing a man in the dusty street of a tiny town in South Texas and whispered to himself, "there ain't nothin' to be scared of." Most of him realised those words were the same lie they always were, but a tiny part of him hoped that maybe this time it'd be different.
He wasn't sure whether the apprehension he was feeling, was for himself or his opponent, but it wasn't helping him concentrate, so he pushed it away, and forced his mind to focus on what he needed to do to keep them both alive. He had no desire to be another notch on the idiot man's gun belt and definitely didn't want this to end in the man being the first person to die by his gun.
In the charged, slightly breathless and very expectant silence of the street, Jed waited, watching the man carefully, and when he saw his hand beginning to draw his gun, he also drew his own weapon and was already firing as the man was aiming to take his shot. He gasped when the man who had called him out, merely because he didn't like his face, hit the ground stone dead, as his own bullet swept harmlessly past Jed to embed itself in the fence behind. The Kid stood stunned for a moment as he looked at the fallen form.
Then as the murmuring round him began to increase in volume, he was suddenly assaulted by a clear image of himself, staring at the bodies of his family. Even as he was nearly swamped with the memory of what still remained the worst day of his life, he wondered why the man had moved so far right, when all he had needed to do to live, was to stay where he was.
Hearing an rapid onrush of footsteps behind him, he turned, but before he could run, he was surrounded by a small group of very angry men. "He killed Gabe, get him!"
Then he didn't know anything at all for a while, until he became aware that someone was shaking his shoulder. With his head aching and his body throbbing, he looked up blearily into the concerned gaze of a well dressed man, who cleared his throat and with worry clear in his tone, said quietly. "Boy, if you're able to walk, you'd better get out of here, as I ain't sure I can stop 'em killing you."
Jed became aware that the hammering he could hear wasn't actually in his head, and shivered slightly, quickly realising just how much danger he was in and nodding carefully, began to swing his legs over the side of the bed he was lying on, despite the room spinning around him as he did so.
The man, who Jed assumed was the town doctor, steadied him briefly as he stood, before quickly steering him out of a back door. Once outside he half ran, half stumbled to his horse and mounted it with some difficulty, before riding out of town as quickly as his battered body would allow.
XXX
"You're leadin' the Devil's Hole Gang?" Kid stared at his old friend in shock as he grinned at him.
"Yup, Kid, I sure am...you can join me if ya want, but I'm telling you, while the gang ain't as bad as some and your speed with that gun is gonna help, robbing banks and trains ain't easy, got a lot that can go wrong. Even with me planning the jobs."
"So what you're saying is I oughta just walk away?"
"No, Kid I ain't saying that at all, just warning you that it won't be an easy road. Though I think the rewards are more than worth any danger. And I'm pretty darn good at making sure there ain't too much of that."
The Kid grinned as he watched his friend, who was bristling with a familiar boundless energy, and felt his own spirits rise in response as he said firmly. "It can't be much worse than dodgin' gunfights and at least I'll have someone to talk to."
Heyes' eyes lit up. "Now that's the spirit, Kid. I'll introduce ya to the rest of the gang."
XXX
"C'mon, Heyes, there ain't nothing to be scared of. I think you're just being a coward or maybe you just don't like other folk havin ideas."
Mort Graham, one of the gang members least accepting of Heyes being leader, was trying to persuade him to pull a job, that he'd said no to at least four times. Kid stared at the other gang members assembled in the bunkhouse searching their faces for which way they intended to go. Most of them looked unconvinced by what the fool was saying, but three maybe four seemed willing to be persuaded.
Heyes looked round at the men too, his hands on his hips. "I ain't stopping you Mort, but if you pull the job you're gonna do it without me."
Three Men Arrested-One dead
A failed bank robbery led to the fatal shooting of one man and the arrest of three others on Thursday.
Heyes sipped his whiskey and read the newspaper with a sigh before pushing it over to Kid. "I tried to tell him..."
Kid scanned the paper Heyes had thrust in his hands and looked up. "Mort is an idiot, Heyes, he'll have a lot of time to think about the fact he should a listened to you in Laramie."
XXX
After they arrived back at their hotel, they carefully didn't look at each other for a few minutes, as they both considered the news Lom had brought them.
Kid waited for Heyes to speak, but when he didn't, his gaze far away, the Kid slightly unnerved by his silence, cleared his throat and asked quietly. "You think we oughta just forget the whole thing, Heyes?"
Heyes drawn out of his thoughts by his question, looked over at him, a faint smile on his lips as he replied. "Probly so Kid, plenty to be scared of, no gang to back us up, likely gonna be broke most of time, not to mention them posses. Be sensible to just rob a bank and high-tail it to South America."
Kid smiled as he said. "But we ain't gonna are we?"
Heyes laughed out loud, "No, Kid we ain't gonna...bein' sensible ain't never been our strong point."
