Wheat Carlson and Kyle Murtry (From The Day They Hanged Kid Curry)
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"Minor characters? MINOR CHARACTERS! Is that what somebody called me and you? M-I-N-O-R C-H-A-R-A-C-T-U-R-E-S? I can just about guess who it was that called us that, too. Why me and you rode all the way from Devil's Hole just to save those two fella's sorry as..." Wheat Carlson ranted as he and Kyle Murtry rode south from Red Rock, Montana toward Hillsdale, the first stop on their return trip back to Devil's Hole. "And we wouldda brung the whole gang to bust The Kid outta jail too, if it weren't for that fact them boys had... had..."
"A prior commitment?" Kyle asked in a slow drawl that really wasn't regional, but rather unique to Kyle himself.
"Wouldn't exactly call a penny poker game a prior commitment," Wheat mumbled and Kyle dropped his head a bit sheepishly.
Wheat pulled a crinkled wad of paper from his shirt pocket and shook it in the air to unfold it. "And who the hell is Grandma Curry? The Kid ain't never mentioned no grandma... And Silky ain't even a woman's name!"
Kyle blushed slightly. "Sounds kinda feminine to me," he replied.
"Pshaw! You ask me, they outta just hang the whole lot of em. Heyes weren't even grateful we rode all that way to help bust The Kid outta that jail."
"Well, being as The Kid weren't even in jail, don't that kinda make sense?" Kyle timidly asked.
Wheat ignored the remark. "Seems a waste of some perfectly good dynamite, if you ask me," he replied and stuffed the note back into his pocket. "And the way The Kid talks to you, Kyle. That remark about missing the meaning to life... I don't know what he meant by that, but it sure sounded like an insult to me."
Kyle was quite for a moment, but gave Wheat a quick glance to determine whether to risk a question. After summoning some courage, Kyle blurted out his question."What is the meaning of life, Wheat?"
Wheat squirmed a bit in his saddle. "The meaning of life? Well, the meaning of life is... is... It's different for everybody, Kyle. A man's gotta figure out the meaning for himself cause there ain't no two answer's the same," he replied and puffed his chest, proud of his profound explanation.
"Oh," Kyle replied.
Again they rode silently for nearly a mile before Kyle again ventured another question.
"Wheat?"
"Yeah?"
"You've been an outlaw a long time, right?"
"Damn straight, and a damn good one, too."
Kyle nodded, seeing no reason to dispute that fact. "You ever known any glamour or glory with the job?"
Wheat shook his head. "There ain't no such thing, Kyle."
"Then why did that fella say he wanted people to think he was The Kid for the glamour and the glory?"
Wheat turned his head to look at his friend and could see that Kyle was really trying to understand that impostor's motivation. He nervously jabbed the inside of his cheek with his tongue while trying to come up with a plausible answer. "There's just a lot of sorry excuses for men in this world. That fella likely ain't accomplished nothing in his entire life. Pretending he was Kid Curry made him feel like a somebody."
Kyle listened intently to Wheat's words and seriously considered the explanation. "That sounds a bit like some glamour and glory, don't you think?"
Wheat opened his mouth to explain to Kyle his error of deduction, but stopped when he realized Kyle's words made pretty good sense. "Yeah Kyle, I think you're right."
It was Kyle's turn to smile proudly as it was not often anyone credited him for profound thoughts. In fact, the only one who ever credited Kyle for anything was his partner, Wheat Carlson.
"Makes you kinda feel sorry for that fella, don't it?" Kyle asked.
"Makes me kinda feel sorry for the whole lot of us," Wheat mumbled.
"What do you mean?"
"I think you may have just stumbled onto the meaning of life, Kyle."
Kyle's eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped, causing a bit of brown tobacco juice to drool from the corner of his mouth. "How's that?" he managed to utter as he wiped the juice with his shirt sleeve.
"Well, it's like we're all running around in circles trying to grab hold of that golden ring. The problem is, the ring is different for everybody, and it changes as you get older or as things happen in your life,"
Kyle struggled some to follow exactly what Wheat was telling him, but Wheat could tell by Kyle's expression that at least some of it was making sense to him.
"What's your golden ring, Wheat?"
"Mine?" Wheat asked with sudden embarrassment. He cleared his throat and shifted again in his saddle. "I suppose mine is... to be the greatest leader there ever was of an outlaw gang," he replied and saw Kyle's head nod with understanding.
"And for Heyes and The Kid, the golden ring is amnesty," Kyle concluded.
"Sounds reasonable," Wheat replied.
"So when they get their amnesty, they're gonna hafta find another golden ring?"
"S'pect so."
Kyle too a deep breath and blew it out in a long puff of air. "I guess The Kid was wrong, then," he said reflectively and without gloating.
"About what?" Wheat asked.
Kyle turned to Wheat and smiled proudly. "I guess I do know the meaning of life."