Thursday approached at a snail's pace and Wednesday afternoon Kid busied himself by splitting logs, a task he quickly discovered was very arduous on muscles that had not been used strenuously for five years. The afternoon was hot and sultry and Kid quickly rid himself of his shirt. By late afternoon, his arm and back muscles had reached their limit and Kid stood and rested the ax against the tree stump and wiped his forehead with an equally sweaty arm. Kid slowly plodded across the yard, then stopped and shed his boots, socks and pants and, clad only in his long johns, Kid stepped into the horse trough and sat down just as Clem was walking out to the porch with the offering of a glass of cool lemonade.
Clem's laughter brought her to Kid's attention.
"What are you doing?" Clem asked through her giggles as she sat down on the steps holding the glass in one hand.
Kid smiled and submerged his head in the water. Coming up for air, he gave his head a shake and brushed his hair back with splayed fingers. Then he looked up at Clem and smiled. Her laughter was so genuine that it quickly became contagious and Kid found himself laughing hardily.
"Just cooling off, darlin," Kid called to her.
"I prefer a nice copper tub and lots of soap," Clem replied.
"Me too, but I'll take what ever I can get."
Kid climbed out of the trough and walked up to the porch and took the glass of lemonade that Clem held out to him.
"Kid, you're getting me all wet," she wined.
Kid raised the glass and gulped half of it down, then took in a gasp of air and stretched his shoulders. Finally he walked back toward the trough and gathered up his clothes and boots and headed toward the cabin.
"Now that felt good," he said and finished the lemonade. He handed Clem the glass and trotted inside to change into some dry clothes.
When Kid emerged from his room, Clem was standing over the stove giving the stew she was making a good stirring.
"Clem, darlin, think you could rub some of this liniment on the back of my shoulders?" he asked sitting down in a kitchen chair.
Clem tapped the spoon on the edge of the pot and set it on the counter. She walked over and Kid handed her the tin of liniment.
"Kid, this is for horses," Clem commented as she opened the tin and stood behind him.
"Muscles is muscles, Clem. I just don't have horse hair between me and my skin, so you just don't have to use as much on me."
Clem sighed but scooped her fingers into the liniment that had a very strong wintergreen odor and her face pinched into a scowl. But she massaged it into Kid's bony shoulders.
"Ah, Clem, you got no idea how good that feels."
"I'm making beef stew for supper."
"I can tell. It smells good."
"How can you tell over all this wintergreen?"
Kid grinned. "I can't really, but I know what beef stew is supposed to smell like. You making biscuits, too?"
"Yep."
"Good, cause for the first time in a long time, I'm hungry as a horse."
Clem smiled. "You're gonna hafta work hard more often, Kid."
"Ahhhh," he crooned and closed his eyes to savor the massage.
0-0-0-0-0-
Kid was surprised to see how late he had slept. It was nearly ten and they would be leaving shortly after noon to visit Heyes. As he dressed, Kid wondered if anyone at the prison had yet told Heyes of the impending visit.
"Wish I'd thought to take him something," Kid lamented over his morning coffee.
Clem jumped up from her chair and hurried into her room. When she returned she was holding a brown paper bag.
"Here, give him this," she said, thrusting the bag into Kid's hands.
"What is it?" Kid asked as he opened the bag to peak inside. Kid smiled when he saw it was a book.
"It's Mark Twain's newest book," Clem said excitedly.
"You bought it, you give it to him, Clem."
"No, it'll mean more coming from you, Kid."
"I can pay you for it."
Clem brushed off his offer with a wave of her hand. "You buy something the next time we're in town and I'll give it to him next week."
"Ah, thank you, Clem," Kid replied with genuine appreciation in his expression.
0-0-0-0-0-
The ride to the prison was much like the last one, dry, hot, and dusty. Kid pulled up to the Sentry Post and provided the necessary information and handed over his gun. Then they proceeded up to the main building.
They gave the clerk their names and the clerk carefully inspected the book and kept the paper bag, handing the book back to Kid. Then they were led to a small cubical in a large room with a dozen small cubicles all in a row. Iron bars separated the visitors from the prisoners and a single chair was provided for sitting.
"You take the chair, Clem. I'll stand," Kid said and gestured to Clem to sit down.
The waiting was nerve wracking and Kid pulled out his pocket watch at least a half a dozen times in a span of three minutes.
Finally the door on the prison side of the room opened and an armed guard escorted a manacled Hannibal Heyes to the cubical and gave his shoulders a nudge, forcing Heyes to sit down.
For a very long moment Heyes and Curry locked eyes and just looked at each other, both experiencing some sort of rejuvenation by the long awaited presence of the other.
"Good to see you, Kid," Heyes said with a smile
"You too, Heyes."
"It's almost over."
Kid nodded and bit the corner of his lower lip.
Seeing that Kid was a bit overcome, Clem quickly joined in to the conversation.
"Kid's got a place not far from here, Heyes."
"Oh, Clem," Heyes said with a smile. "Good to see you too. I'm glad Kid has company."
Heyes' naturally small frame had been reduced by at least fifteen pounds. But having been of slighter build to begin with, the change was not so startling as Kid's had been. Still, Clem knew she had some work cut out for her, fattening these two men up a bit.
"Kid brought you something," Clem said and gave Kid a nudge that jolted him back to the moment.
"Yeah, here," he said and slipped the book through the bars.
Heyes smiled. "Ah, Twain. That'll help the days pass quicker."
"I'm...We're living close by, Heyes. We plan to come every week.. Thought today would be just a social visit but next week we'll start planning," Kid said.
"Planning what?"
Kid shrugged. "What we'll do, where we gonna go, you know...planning."
"Ah, yeah. That's a good idea... You alright Kid? You look thin."
"Kid snorted. "You're a fine one to talk."
"Yeah, I suppose I am...They treat you alright in here?"
"Sure, Heyes...You?"
Heyes nodded and they both knew the other was lying.
"Heyes, will they let us bring you food?" Clem asked but Heyes shook his head and Clem frowned.
"Ten minutes," the guard told then.
"God that goes fast," Kid remarked.
"Yeah, well, I suppose there's a lot of visitors to come through. They got to limit the time."
"Heyes, if there's anything you want..."
"No, I'm fine. It really won't be long now, Kid. Just a couple of months."
Kid nodded.
The two men locked eyes again, both expressing something that neither could put into words but both understood implicitly.
The guard came over and put a hand on Heyes' shoulder and he stood. "Kid...Not much longer."
Heyes turned and headed out of the room. Kid didn't so much as move a muscle as he watched Heyes disappear from sight.
"Kid, I'm driving," Clem announced as they walked out to the surrey.
"I can drive, Clem."
"No you can't. You got too much to think about."
Kid didn't argue. Clem was right. He helped her into the driver's seat, then walked around and climbed into the passenger seat beside her.
All the way home Kid sat silently with his forearms resting on this thighs, his fingers intertwined, one thumb or the other in constant slow movement, and his head bent down.
After seeing both Heyes and Curry, Clem was well aware that when they agreed to the plea bargain, neither had the slightest idea of the ramifications that they were now facing together, yet alone.
When they returned to the cabin Kid helped Clem out of the surrey and led the horse and surrey to the barn. When he was done there, he walked in to the cabin and, without a word, Kid walked straight to his room and shut the door and didn't emerge again that evening.
Late that night, after Clem had long ago gone to bed, Kid came out of his room. He headed into the kitchen and lit an oil lamp, turning the wick down low, casting just enough light for him to see. He moved to the cupboard and retrieved one of the two bottles of whiskey and carried it outside to the porch.
Kid had been sitting for well over an hour with one leg folded over the knee of the other when he drifted off to sleep and his leg slipped, his booted foot landing with a thud on the porch floor. It was loud enough to wake both Kid and Clem and she came to the door to investigate. Seeing the half empty bottle of whiskey sitting on the floor beside Kid's chair, Clem stepped outside and tugged at Kid's arm.
"Come on, Kid, you'll catch your death of cold out here."
Kid got up slowly and teetered and swayed, but didn't fall and Clem held tight to his arm and led him back inside where she literally shoved him into a chair near the kitchen table. Next she went to the stove to put a pot of coffee on to boil.
"Kid, what do you think you're doing?" Clem scolded the man too intoxicated to to care. "Is this the beginning of your new Thursday night ritual?"
Kid rested one elbow on the table and covered his mouth with his hand and closed his eyes.
"Kid, don't you fall asleep on me," Clem snarled and walked over and gave him a rough shove to his shoulder.
"It don't hurt no more," Kid said, his speech thick and slurred.
"It will when I get done with you if you don't start talking to me," Clem said, meaning every word she said.
With deliberate effort Kid pushed himself back in the chair and looked up at Clem with bloodshot eyes that couldn't focus.
"You saw him," Kid said as though that was all the explanation that was needed.
"Yeah, I saw him. Now what did you see that I didn't?"
The coffee was heated and Clem poured two cups and set one in from of Kid.
"KID! What is wrong?"
"Heyes."
"What do you mean?"
Kid very carefully held the coffee cup between two hands and bent his head to take a sip. Then he very carefully lowered the cup to the table.
"When I told him we'd start planning."
"Yeah, so?"
Kid belched a hiccup. "They broke him"
"What do you mean, they broke him?"
Kid's chin was now quivering and with great effort he looked directly at Clem.
"He don't see no future. He don't care what happens now."
Clem stared at Kid open-mouthed. "He's...given up?"
Kid's chin was quivering heavily now and he sucked in deep gulps of air."
"Kid," Clem said through clenched teeth. "Drink your coffee."
"What?" Kid asked, confused by her response.
"Drink your coffee," she ordered. "I want you sober! Now! Drink it!"
In his current state, Kid was actually taken aback by her assertiveness and he reached for the coffee and took a gulp. Clem got up and brought the coffee pot to the table.
"You're going to drink this whole damn pot, do you hear me!"
Kid was completely stupefied by her reaction, but even drunk, he knew better than to argue.