This is for all those involved in the THUD discussions on Facebook

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THUD!

"Kid, stop that right now!" Heyes shouted with such force that Kid sprung from his bed and reached instinctively in the dark for his gun.

THUD!

"I said stop it, Kid!"

"Stop what?" Kid asked, completely perplexed.

"Stop...Lying there half naked. Put your damn shirt on!"

"What?" Kid shouted.

"To stop the thud."

"Heyes, what are you talking about?" Kid asked, reaching for his shirt and slipping it on.

"Button it up quick! All the way to the top!"

"Alright! Alright! Now tell me what this is about?" Kid insisted.

"Didn't you hear the thud?"

"What thud?"

"Kate, are you alright?" Heyes called to the author.

Kate slowly pulled herself up off the floor. "A little groggy, Heyes, but I'm okay."

"Kate, what this thud that Heyes is talking about?"

"Oh Dear... Kid, maybe you need to leave the room," Kate said and began typing furiously.

"You're sending me to the privy? In the dark?' Kid asked

Kate immediately hit the delete button, realizing the privy was a dangerous place to send Kid...Things might get...exposed in the privy.

THUD!

"Did you hear that this time, Kid?' Heyes asked.

"I did. What was it?"

"It was Kate passing out cold."

"Passing out? Is she sick?"

"I don't think sick, more like love struck."

"Ah, Kate's in love," Kid said with a smile.

"No, that ain't it either. Maybe more like in...sane."

"What?"

"It's something that has just come over her recently, Kid. Ain't you noticed you ain't been taking as many baths recently?"

"Yeah," Kid said, having noticed that fewer baths had been written lately, but completely unaware until now that Heyes was aware of him taking fewer baths.

"And you ain't been...nekked as often."

"Uh-uh?"

"And you sure ain't been getting enough sleep lately."

"What's your point, Heyes?' Kid said with agitation in his voice.

"Well, more and more often lately... In fact every time you're nakked or sleeping, or bathing, or flashing them pearly whites, well Kate passes out cold on the floor."

"She's fainting...Over me?" Kid said, trying to hide a flattered smile.

"Hell even that puffy bottom lip of yours causes her to tremble!"

"Aw, ain't that sweet?"

"No, it ain't sweet! Its... Its...annoying and disruptive!"

This time Kid couldn't hide a smile.

"Heyes, you're jealous."

Heyes was growing so exasperated with both Kate and Kid that he started pacing.

"Kid, do you realize the kind of trouble this could put us in?"

"What kind of trouble?"

'Well, suppose there's a posse chasing us..."

"And?"

"And it's a sweltering hot day..."

"Okay..."

"And you get all sweaty and decide to stop and take your shirt off..."

Kid was starting to see the seriousness of this situation. "And Kate faints dead away with a posse on our tale..."

"And being passed out, she can't type any words. She can't help us get safely away..."

"That really could be a problem, Heyes."

"You think?"

"Well, what can we do about it?"

"Well, you got to always keep all your clothes on, even your boots. And wearing your Sherpa might help."

Kid wasn't liking this brilliant idea of his partner's.

"What else?"

"Well, you can't never smile again, and always suck in your lower lip...And you gotta sleep with your eyes open. You gotta look like you're awake."

"Any more suggestions?" Kid asked with more than a little ire in his voice."

"You can't never take a bath again..."

"That does it! I quit!" Kid shouted. "Kate, you awake yet?"

"A... I think so, Kid."

"Well, I just quit!"

"What?" Kate asked both confused and terribly worried.

"I said I quit. You just write them stories as Alias Smith, cause Jones ain't in the picture no more!"

"Kid, no! I'll keep your cloths on. I promise."

"And we all know how long that will last. You can't write more than three paragraphs without having me discarding some piece of clothing."

"But Kid, I need you. You know I can't write Heyes well, not without you!"

"Well, you're just gonna hafta to learn to write Heyes stories, or just give the whole thing up."

"You would do that to me, Kid? You would abandon me?"

"I'm an outlaw, Kate. I ain't got no scruples."

The imagination grew silent. The computer screen remained blank. Heyes and Kid looked at each other, neither understanding what was happening.

"Kate?" Heyes said.

There was no answer

"What do we do now, Heyes?' Kid whispered.

Heyes shrugged. "Why don't you try to apologize."

"Apologize?" Kid whispered angrily. "I ain't got nothing to apologize for. It ain't my fault she passes out looking at me."

Heyes suddenly brightened with an idea.

"Cushions!" Heyes exclaimed.

"Uh?" Kid asked.

"Kate, can you hear me? Please Kate, tell me you can hear me."

"I can hear you, Heyes," Kate said softly.

"I got me one of my brilliant ideas."

"I'm listening," Kate replied.

"You need to put cushions all over the floor around your computer."

"Why?"

"That way you can swoon over Kid all you want, but when you fall to the floor you won't hit your head, so you won't pass out."

"I've got a better idea, Heyes," Kate said with a smile.

"You got a better idea than Heyes?" Kid asked.

"Well, maybe just an improvement on his idea," Kate replied.

"So what is it?" Heyes asked.

"I'll put my computer on the floor. That way, even swooning, I won't fall at all!"

"Does that mean I can start taking baths again?" Kid asked.

"Yep," Kate replied.

"And I don't have to walk around with my lip sucked in?"

"That's right."

"And I don't have to wear my Sherpa in the desert?"

"Never."

"Okay, I'm in again," Kid proclaimed.

'Aw, thanks, Kid."

"So can I go back to bed now?"

"You go right ahead, Kid. You deserve a good night's sleep."

Kid shot Heyes a smart ass smirk as he unbuttoned and shirt and pulled it off before crawling back into the bed and closing his eyes.

Only a very, very, very soft thud could be heard.