Kid was still sitting at the table an hour later when he felt his partner watching from a few steps behind him. The dealer had just passed him the one card he asked for. He picked up his hand and deliberately spread the cards…eight of diamonds, five of clubs, nine of clubs, six of hearts…and the card he drew, two of hearts. He could almost see Heyes' mocking smile as he threw in his hand disgustedly. "Thaddeus, what did I tell you about the odds of drawing to an inside straight?"

"Yeah, well…a fella is bound to get lucky once in a while isn't he?" Kid retorted as he pushed his chair away from the table. He picked up his winnings and said to the man holding the cards, "Deal me out, will ya?"

Kid gave Heyes a good once-over. If anything, his partner looked even more relaxed than before. "Did you have a good time, Joshua?" Kid smirked.

"Now Thaddeus, you know I never kiss and tell," Heyes grinned.

"Hmm. So what do you wanna do now?"

"I dunno…get something to eat? I'm starved."

"Works for me. Let's go." Both men turned up their coat collars before they walked out of the barroom. The sky was a deep shade of blue-gray, the same as it had been for several days in a row. Rain continued to fall softly as they made their way down the boardwalk. It pattered off their hats and splattered on the wooden walkway. They watched as townspeople struggled to cross the muddy street. Getting to the other side was an adventure as their feet slipped and slid in the wet muck. Men held onto the arms of their womenfolk who had the added inconvenience of trying to keep the hems of their dresses from becoming too caked with the stuff that sucked against the soles of their shoes with each step.

Thunder rolled across the town just as they entered the café, safe from the rain once more. The clouds burst forth with a new round of moisture, pouring from the already rain-soaked sky with a fury. "Made it just in time," the waitress smiled wearily at them as they sat down at a table near the wall.

She set coffee cups on the table before them and said, "I heard the river rose another inch since yesterday. This keeps up and the whole town is gonna be under water soon. The road out of town is already in danger of being taken out."

They absorbed this information but didn't say anything except, "What's good today?"

"You've eaten here before. You know what's good."

"Yes, ma'am. We've eaten here before. So far, we ain't seen that much good," Kid answered.

"We'll just have the stew," Heyes smiled prettily at the woman before she had a chance to serve Kid a piece of her mind. She glared at them before turning on her heel and stalking away.

"Not a good idea to make the cook mad at you Thaddeus. You should know that by now. What's the matter with you?"

"Nothing's the matter with me, Joshua. I'm just a little tired of sitting around this town. I never thought I would say it, but I'm getting bored with sitting around the saloon and playing poker. I need to find something else to do."

"Well, you could always get a book and—"

"And what about Fletcher?"

"What about him?"

"It doesn't bother you that he's here and he just told everybody who we are?"

"I told you, Kid, nobody believes him! If anything, it's a perfect cover for us. Fletcher just made sure that no one thinks we're anything except plain ol' Joshua Smith and Thaddeus Jones. Matter of fact, this might just turn out to be the safest town we've ever been in."

Kid considered this, doubt etched on his face. "Maybe you're right, but sooner or later, these things have a way of turning around on themselves. I just hope that when it does, we have a chance to get out of the way."

The waitress set two plates of steaming hot beef stew in front of them. Heyes smiled sweetly at her, winning a fond look from her. Kid looked first at his plate of food and then at Heyes' plate. "Hey, how come he got more'n I did?"

She faced him, hands on her hips. "He did? I didn't notice." Heyes hid a smile as she walked away.

"I told you not to make the cook mad at you," he said, digging into his food hungrily, enjoying every mouthful to the utmost. "Ummm…this is delicious. Eat up."

Kid scowled fiercely and said poutily, "Don't matter much. She makes the worst stew I've ever tasted." Heyes couldn't help it…he broke out laughing at his friend's misfortune.

Around mouthfuls of food, Kid continued, "You know what else I don't like about this town? That boarding house we're staying at. That place makes me jumpier than a frog in a frying pan."

Heyes had to admit that he agreed with Kid on this one. The town's only hotel was full when they had arrived in town so they had found a room with a woman by the name of Thelma Campbell who owned a big, rambling home near the edge of town. They had heard that at one time, she had been married to a rich man who had come to an unfortunate end, the result of a long night of hard drinking. Seems the poor fellow had ended up down at the river with a couple of his drunk cronies and had somehow drowned. Due to a series of bad investments, he left her a lot worse off than she had expected, so since then, she had been taking people into her home to help pay the bills.

That in itself wouldn't be bad but the woman had recently opened her home to her widowed brother, Ott Howard, the father of two daughters, Molly and Miranda, who were twenty-one and nineteen years old; pretty little things. His wife had died several years past and the man had raised his daughters on his own, out in the country, before moving in with his sister. Now his mission in life seemed to be getting his offspring married off as soon as possible. Not an easy chore in a one-horse town like this one.

He'd been giving Heyes and Curry appraising looks since the first moment he laid eyes on them the night they arrived at the house, pushing one daughter or the other in their direction every chance he got. The two men had taken to sneaking into their room quietly, glancing around corners to make sure the coast was clear, but it never seemed to do much good. Everywhere they turned, they bumped into one of the girls who seemed eager to acquiesce to their father's wishes. Maybe a little too eager.

The girls were cute enough and would probably make good wives…for the right men. Joshua Smith and Thaddeus Jones might be the right men, but Kid Curry and Hannibal Heyes were definitely not the right men, and there was no way around it--You couldn't get one without the other.

Kid was finished with his lunch but he still had a dissatisfied and restless look about him. He tapped his fingers impatiently on the table, glancing around the room as though looking for inspiration on how to fill the rest of the day. "So what do we do now, Heyes?"

"You want me to lend you a book?"

Kid sighed deeply and stood up from his chair, "Let's go play some poker."