Chapter 8
I sat for the rest of the day hiding myself in my house, laying low for a while till everyone had cooled down. Ok so I knew if I went out there I might get my ass kicked by the whole of DX. I was hurt, not only my face but my pride and my heart. I had ruined everything with Stephanie and she would probably never talk to me again. I lay on my bed with my arms folded under my head just staring at my ceiling wondering what the hell I was going to do now I had got myself on the wrong side of a bunch of crazy killers.
"Knock knock" Edge says opening my door and walking in, I give him a weak smile and sit up letting him sit down on the end of the bed. He looks at my face and shakes his head "God Chris you look like you've been run over by a stage coach" he laughs making me smile.
"Feels like it to I can tell ya!" I smile feeling a little bit better; he pulls me up and chucks me a clean shirt "What are you doing? I'm not going anywhere if that's what your thinking" I say chucking it back at him.
"Yes you are Christopher, you are going straight round to Stephanie's house, with great gifts and you are going to apologies for letting her see that today and you are going to get back to being all gooey and mushy with her and I'm not taking no for an answer!" He says, I knew it was no good arguing with him now. I pulled on my shirt and headed for the door with him. He started off in the complete wrong direction of Stephanie's house, I run after him.
"Wait, Edge her house is this way," I say catching up with him and pointing behind me just incase he didn't get the whole; we're going the wrong way tone of my voice.
"Like I said, you have to take some great gifts with you and that's why we're going to the work shop so you can make her something nice, well something other than a horseshoe. Make her..I dunno a broach or something pretty" He says making me stop and stare at him.
"Edge you do understand I make shoes and other things out of steel, not pretty little broaches. Besides it'll be rubbish if it's made out of steel, I have nothing else to make it out of do I!" I say as he pushes open the door to the workshop and goes inside, he climbs up onto the wall and into the hayloft in the roof and starts searching around. "No! No way, my dad would kill me if he found out!" I shout as Edge appears with a small cloth bag, he jumps down and walks over to me "Put it back now, if he finds out we've taken some of this he will shoot both of us and you know he will" I say snatching the bag from him.
"We only need a couple of pieces, enough for you to melt down. When was the last time he actually checked it was all there, ten, twenty years ago. He won't even notice!" He says taking the bag back from me and opening it carefully and tipping a couple of the nougats onto his hand "He wont even notice they're gone, he cant just leave them up there forever"
"He needs them, that's all we've got after this business" I say staring at the nougats in his hand, they were worth a fortune, each nougats was at least the size of a small chicken egg and he had four in total. My father had won them at a game of cards when he first started out our business, before I was even born. There was a great gold rush and a couple of guys managed to get lucky finding enough gold for them to never worry about money again, one of them passed through our town and after drinking too much in our saloon challenged my father to a card game, loosing four of his precious gold nougats. "I suppose I could always pay him back one day, and he probably wont even notice" I say trying to convince myself that he really wouldn't mind. I pick up the nougats excitedly and walk over to my workbench and the fire. "It's going to take me hours to get the fire hot enough, and then I have to make a mould, melt it down and start working on it" I say as I start packing wood and anything I could find into the fire desperate to get it going.
"If it takes you hours, it takes your hours. I'm going to help you anyway; you can give it to her tomorrow morning when we go round there.when you go round there" he says sitting down on the wall next to me watching me walking around mixing up a bowl of clay and plaster to make the first mould that would help me make the steel mould.
"Wait a minute, what am I even making the broach of!?" I say stopping and looking up at him, he shrugs his shoulders and walks over to me.
"I dunno what about a flower or something, you know a pretty flower for a pretty sheriffs daughter, I dunno make her what you want. Oh I know, what about a little heart and you can engrave the back or something, you're smart enough to do that" He says looking over my shoulder as I start making the first mould.
"You don't need to be smart to engrave it, I'm just not sure if we have the tools to do it" I say concentrating hard on getting it the right shape till I'm happy with it. I put it down and walk over to the fire checking on it putting in some more wood to get it going better. "This better work you know"
"It will trust me, she'll love it," he says as I start working on the broach for Stephanie.
I had no idea what time is was when I was adding the finishing touches to it, but it must have nearly morning because it was getting lighter outside. Edge had fallen asleep in the hay hours ago while I continued to work. It was perfect, I had engraved it and everything 'Love Always, Chris' it said on the back which I had sketched carefully into the gold. I held it up to the lamp to look at it, it was still a little bit warm so I placed it down on the bench to cool a bit more. I walk over to Edge and kick him gently with the toe of my boot making him stir.
"I'm done, we can go now" I say kicking him again till he opens his eyes and looks at me "Come on, we can go home now. I finished it" I say as he climbs to his feet yawning and brushing the hay off of himself, he looks out the door at the lightening sky and rubs his eyes "It's morning" I laugh.
"Have you been working all night on it!" he asks walking over to the bench and looking at it, I nod my head proudly before wrapping it up in a piece of cloth and dropping it into my pocket. We walk home along the streets listening to how quiet the whole town seemed, no one was up and about yet and the whole place seemed like a ghost town. We arranged to meet up around noon before walking back off to our houses to sleep.
I sat for the rest of the day hiding myself in my house, laying low for a while till everyone had cooled down. Ok so I knew if I went out there I might get my ass kicked by the whole of DX. I was hurt, not only my face but my pride and my heart. I had ruined everything with Stephanie and she would probably never talk to me again. I lay on my bed with my arms folded under my head just staring at my ceiling wondering what the hell I was going to do now I had got myself on the wrong side of a bunch of crazy killers.
"Knock knock" Edge says opening my door and walking in, I give him a weak smile and sit up letting him sit down on the end of the bed. He looks at my face and shakes his head "God Chris you look like you've been run over by a stage coach" he laughs making me smile.
"Feels like it to I can tell ya!" I smile feeling a little bit better; he pulls me up and chucks me a clean shirt "What are you doing? I'm not going anywhere if that's what your thinking" I say chucking it back at him.
"Yes you are Christopher, you are going straight round to Stephanie's house, with great gifts and you are going to apologies for letting her see that today and you are going to get back to being all gooey and mushy with her and I'm not taking no for an answer!" He says, I knew it was no good arguing with him now. I pulled on my shirt and headed for the door with him. He started off in the complete wrong direction of Stephanie's house, I run after him.
"Wait, Edge her house is this way," I say catching up with him and pointing behind me just incase he didn't get the whole; we're going the wrong way tone of my voice.
"Like I said, you have to take some great gifts with you and that's why we're going to the work shop so you can make her something nice, well something other than a horseshoe. Make her..I dunno a broach or something pretty" He says making me stop and stare at him.
"Edge you do understand I make shoes and other things out of steel, not pretty little broaches. Besides it'll be rubbish if it's made out of steel, I have nothing else to make it out of do I!" I say as he pushes open the door to the workshop and goes inside, he climbs up onto the wall and into the hayloft in the roof and starts searching around. "No! No way, my dad would kill me if he found out!" I shout as Edge appears with a small cloth bag, he jumps down and walks over to me "Put it back now, if he finds out we've taken some of this he will shoot both of us and you know he will" I say snatching the bag from him.
"We only need a couple of pieces, enough for you to melt down. When was the last time he actually checked it was all there, ten, twenty years ago. He won't even notice!" He says taking the bag back from me and opening it carefully and tipping a couple of the nougats onto his hand "He wont even notice they're gone, he cant just leave them up there forever"
"He needs them, that's all we've got after this business" I say staring at the nougats in his hand, they were worth a fortune, each nougats was at least the size of a small chicken egg and he had four in total. My father had won them at a game of cards when he first started out our business, before I was even born. There was a great gold rush and a couple of guys managed to get lucky finding enough gold for them to never worry about money again, one of them passed through our town and after drinking too much in our saloon challenged my father to a card game, loosing four of his precious gold nougats. "I suppose I could always pay him back one day, and he probably wont even notice" I say trying to convince myself that he really wouldn't mind. I pick up the nougats excitedly and walk over to my workbench and the fire. "It's going to take me hours to get the fire hot enough, and then I have to make a mould, melt it down and start working on it" I say as I start packing wood and anything I could find into the fire desperate to get it going.
"If it takes you hours, it takes your hours. I'm going to help you anyway; you can give it to her tomorrow morning when we go round there.when you go round there" he says sitting down on the wall next to me watching me walking around mixing up a bowl of clay and plaster to make the first mould that would help me make the steel mould.
"Wait a minute, what am I even making the broach of!?" I say stopping and looking up at him, he shrugs his shoulders and walks over to me.
"I dunno what about a flower or something, you know a pretty flower for a pretty sheriffs daughter, I dunno make her what you want. Oh I know, what about a little heart and you can engrave the back or something, you're smart enough to do that" He says looking over my shoulder as I start making the first mould.
"You don't need to be smart to engrave it, I'm just not sure if we have the tools to do it" I say concentrating hard on getting it the right shape till I'm happy with it. I put it down and walk over to the fire checking on it putting in some more wood to get it going better. "This better work you know"
"It will trust me, she'll love it," he says as I start working on the broach for Stephanie.
I had no idea what time is was when I was adding the finishing touches to it, but it must have nearly morning because it was getting lighter outside. Edge had fallen asleep in the hay hours ago while I continued to work. It was perfect, I had engraved it and everything 'Love Always, Chris' it said on the back which I had sketched carefully into the gold. I held it up to the lamp to look at it, it was still a little bit warm so I placed it down on the bench to cool a bit more. I walk over to Edge and kick him gently with the toe of my boot making him stir.
"I'm done, we can go now" I say kicking him again till he opens his eyes and looks at me "Come on, we can go home now. I finished it" I say as he climbs to his feet yawning and brushing the hay off of himself, he looks out the door at the lightening sky and rubs his eyes "It's morning" I laugh.
"Have you been working all night on it!" he asks walking over to the bench and looking at it, I nod my head proudly before wrapping it up in a piece of cloth and dropping it into my pocket. We walk home along the streets listening to how quiet the whole town seemed, no one was up and about yet and the whole place seemed like a ghost town. We arranged to meet up around noon before walking back off to our houses to sleep.