Jed and Hannibal stood side by side, facing the wall, their hands and butts burning from the the impact of the cane. Their cheeks were flushed from embarrassed anger at what they considered an unfair and overly childish punishment. They were in no mood to pay any attention to Mr Grampian's continued hectoring about their behaviour. All they heard was a droning irritating buzz of noise. They only listened when Hannibal realised by the change in tone, that the man was finally winding up. He nudged Jed to get his attention, just as the assistant Master said. "You will both stay here until after supper is finished, then I will send Mr Rix to escort you straight to your beds. I'll inform you if there will be further punishment at seven tomorrow morning in my office. That clear boys?"
They were always expected to answer when asked something directly and in unison they answered. "Yes, Sir."
With that the teacher left the room, shutting the door heavily behind him. The two boys said nothing for a few minutes, then Jed turned to his friend. At thirteen, he could easily pass for eleven. But the determined set of his jaw and the dark anger that was sparking from his eyes were still quite impressive, despite his youthful appearance. "I ain't standing no more of this, Hannibal. I ain't! As soon as it's dark, I'm outta here. We did nothing wrong 'cept stop them other boys from hurting that poor dog, but I don't see no one but us being whupped." His gaze turned accusing. "Your silver tongue weren't much use."
Hannibal sighed, he'd been expecting this for days, weeks even, easily recognising the signs that the idiot staff had missed. Choosing to ignore his cousin's complaint, he only said. "I'm with ya, Jed. I been storing food under my bed and I got two bags of clothes hid in the barn nice and high. But we oughta wait till just before dawn so we can sneak into the Master's office tonight and relieve him of some of that cash he's been hoarding. I woulda taken it earlier, but its safer when you're watching my back and besides I wanted to wait on the weather clearing some."
The previous week Jed had been on night stable duty helping Mr Greary to foal the school's two mares. And the last three nights, he'd been forced to sleep in what they and other boys called the hole. A tiny windowless room with just a mattress on the floor, because he'd accidentally broken a kitchen window during target practice with his catapult. Hannibal could have picked the lock, but he'd decided to hang on, so he could put the finishing touches to his plan. He was as happy as he could be with it and besides he knew Jed's mind was made up to leave, and there'd be no stopping him beyond the morning. Hannibal feared what would happen if he lit out on his own. They were all each other had and when they ran, they'd run together.
XXX
They clambered over the high wall out to freedom and a whole new life, just as the sun rose, tinting the sky with pink. Jed landed first and caught the bags that his friend threw down. He placed them both on the ground, before helping Hannibal down. They stood together staring at the grim stone building on the other side. "You sure about this, Jed?"
"Never surer, Hannibal. You?"
Hannibal nodded, feeling no regret at seeing the back of the place that he'd grown to hate. "That place don't hold nothing for me 'cept bad memories."
"Ain't that the truth." Jed said firmly as they turned away, walking side by side as they headed up the hill towards the way-station just a mile or so away from the school. They were taking the five am stage out, not caring where it was going, as long as it was away from here.
As they sat on the wooden bench, waiting for their transport to arrive, Hannibal nudged his almost asleep friend into alertness. He ignored the disgruntled expression on his face as he said. "I was thinking, Jed, Hannibal is a bit of a mouthful, and I ain't never been that fond of Han. It don't sound impressive enough for what I got planned for us."
"So what, you're gonna change your name?" Jed looked over at him in some amusement.
"Nothing like that, I was thinking I'd just use Heyes. It's short and I can make it sound real authoritative."
Jed shrugged. "Iffin you say so, Hannibal." At the dirty look his friend threw him he grinned and said dryly. "Sorry, Heyes." He paused for a minute then added. "Does that mean I gotta go by Curry?"
"Well I bin thinking about that Jed...You looking so young, I figure Kid or the Kid would suit ya fine."
Jed frowned, not exactly certain that the name was a good choice. "I ain't sure, Ha-Heyes. It ain't real impressive, in fact it sounds kinda dumb."
"But think about it- with your looks and that name together, most folk won't figure out how proddy you really are, till it's too late and we got 'em where we want them."
Jed looked over at his friend's innocent expression, not sure if he'd just been insulted or not, but then shrugged and tried the name out. "Kid Curry. I guess it kinda don't sound too bad."
Heyes grinned at his friend. " I always have the best ideas, J-Kid, you know that!"
