BLINDED BY THE LIGHT

They rode into Creighton in the late afternoon and stopped in front of the hotel. Heyes dismounted but Kid remained in his saddle.

"You take the saddlebags in and get a room and I'll take the horses to the livery," Kid said.

"You want me to order you a bath, Kid?"

An appreciative smile spread across Kid's face. "Yeah, thanks Heyes. I'll be right back," he said, reaching for the reins of the sorrel.

Kid pulled back from the post and headed down the street towards the edge of town. He passed a large warehouse where several men were carefully loading wooden crates onto the back of a wagon and carefully packing straw in the spaces between the crates. Kid took a wide berth around the workers. Kid had hauled nitro himself a few times and knew just how volatile the liquid explosive was and didn't want either of the horses to suddenly shy anywhere near the men or the cargo.

Kid continued down another block and led both horses into the livery.

"I'd appreciate you brushing em both down and given each a bag of oats," Kid told the stable boy.

"How long you gonna be keeping em here?"

"Just a day or two. The name's Jones."

"Alright, Mr. Jones. I'll see they're both taken care of."

"Thank you," Kid replied and started on his way back to the hotel.

Kid crossed to the far side of the street as he approached the warehouse. Just as he gave a glance at two men carrying a crate toward the wagon, Kid saw a small dog dart across their path causing one of the men to stumble. At that point, everything moved in slow motion as Kid made a fruitless effort to race across the street to the falling man's assistance. The man fell forward, the crate unintentionally thrust out toward the street.

Then a deafening blast and a blinding white light that was immediately followed by blackness and total silence.

The entire town not only heard, but felt the explosion. Window panes rattled and broke. Wooden timbers of the now razed warehouse flew high into the air in all directions. Three men emerged from the shambled building, their clothes smoldering as they ran down the street screaming, flames growing in the warehouse debris, bodies strewn in the street.

Everyone in town came running, some to simply gawk at the destruction, others bringing buckets to douse the fire, still others to try to tend to the wounded.

Hearing the explosion, Heyes looked out the window and saw the mayhem. He knew Kid had gone in that direction and Heyes darted from his room and out into the street to follow the crowd to the source of destruction.

Heyes stopped just before reaching the warehouse. His eyes scanned the crowd for his partner. Then he saw people pulling the injured to the far side of the street, laying them in a row for the doctor to quickly assess which, if any were likely to survive if treated.

It was in that row of people lying supine in the street that Heyes spied his partner.

"Kid," Heyes moaned and rushed to Kid's side.

Kid's face was burned, as were both arms. His hair was singed. He was unconscious but his breathing was even, though shallow.

Heyes was only vaguely aware when Dr. Hudley crouched down and listened to Kid's heart with his stethoscope.

"Take him to my office," Dr. Hudley instructed two men offering assistance. Heyes stood up and eased one of the men aside. "Ill help. You stay with the doctor and help someone else."

Heyes slid his arms under under Kid's armpits and waited for the other man to get a solid grip of Kid's legs.

"You lead. I don't know where the doctor's office is," Heyes told the other man.

Kid didn't utter a sound as they carried him to the doctor's office and laid him on an exam table in the back room.

"I'll stay with him till the doctor gets here. You go help someone else," Heyes told the stranger.

By the time everyone was accounted for, the doctor had four emergency patients in his office. He quickly determined who was most critical and began with that person. It was another three hours before his final patient, Kid, was assessed and treated by the doctor.

By this time, Kid was beginning to show signs of starting to come around and began to moan. Heyes tried to comfort and quiet him as the doctor cleaned and bandaged Kid's arms and face.

"His burns are all second degree. They'll heal in time. But burns are painful," the doctor explained to Heyes.

"Doctor, we're not from here. In fact we just got in to town this afternoon. We're staying at the hotel and..."

"The hotel cross the street?" the doctor asked.

"Yes," Heyes replied.

"This fellow is the least injured and I don't have room to house all four of these men here. Once he's awake, I'll have someone help you get him over to the hotel and I'll stop by twice a day to see him."

"You sure he'll be alright?" Heyes asked.

"Out of these four men, this one's the lucky one."

Heyes uttered a sigh of relief.

"I'll send some medicine with you that you can give him for the pain. He'll likely start poking at the bandages on his face. Don't let him take them off. That balm underneath the bandages will keep him from scarring much, but it's got to be able to do it's work. You watch that closely."

"I will. Thank you, doctor."

Heyes continued to stay at Kid's bedside, anxiously waiting for Kid to fully waken. About an hour later, Kid uttered a heavy moan and bandaged arms slowly moved toward toward his head.

"Heyes?" Kid whispered.

"It's Joshua, and I'm right here, Kid."

"My head..." Kid moaned.

"Doc says you're going to be fine."

"Oh...it hurts."

"You got some nasty burns on your arms and face."

Kid's fingers gently drifted across the facial bandages. Only Kid's nostrils and mouth were not covered with bandages."

"Doc, my friend is awake. He says he hurts," Heyes called to the doctor.

A few minutes later the doctor brought Heyes a glass of water laced with pain medicine. Heyes held it to Kid's mouth and Kid's hands moved to grasp the glass..

"What's your name, son?" the doctor asked.

"Thaddeus Jones,"

"Who's this fellow with you?"

"Joshua Smith."

"You know what happened to you?"

Kid thought a minute. "Nitro explosion."

"You feel up to making a trip across the street?"

"Can try."

The doctor called to his son who had been helping to tend to the patients. "Harvey, help Mr. Smith move this man over to the hotel, please."

"You able to walk, Kid?" Heyes asked.

"We'll find out in a minute, won't we?" Kid replied.

Twenty minutes later Heyes and Harvey had successfully moved Kid across the street to his hotel room and helped him into bed.

"I gotta get back across the street," Harvey said

"Thank you, Harvey," Heyes called as the boy darted out the door.

Heyes adjusted Kid's pillows and got Kid's boots off.

"That medicine starting to help?"

"Some," Kid said groggily.

Heyes pulled the blanket up to Kid's chin. "You get some sleep now, Kid."

Kid nodded but didn't reply. Slowly his head rolled to the side and minutes later Kid was snoring softly.

Kid had shifted his position during the night and was facing his partner when Heyes woke to the sight of wrapped gauze topped off with a mass of dark blonde curls protruding from the bed covers. Heyes smiled at the image, thankful that he was able to smile after the explosion yesterday.

Heyes was up and dressed before Kid began to stir and moan a bit.

"You awake?" Heyes asked.

"Barely, Oh, Lordy," Kid replied, his hands reaching for the gauze wrapped about his face. "Oh, this hurts and itches."

"You want some of that medicine for the pain?"

"Yeah. I've never had a headache this bad before."

Heyes fixed a glass of water with some pain medicine and brought it to Kid's bed. He reached for Kid's hand and slid the glass into Kid's palm.

"Don't go pulling at the bandages. Doc said you might, but he said they have to stay on so the balm can work proper."

"Kay," Kid replied and drank the water.

Heyes took the glass and Kid slowly eased his aching head back down on the pillow and moaned.

"Did you see the burns?"

"Yeah, you'll probably do a lot of peeling, but you were far enough away not to take the brunt of the explosion."

Kid sighed. "Good to hear."

"You want me to get you some breakfast, Kid?"

"Probably should. I ain't eaten since...breakfast yesterday. I don't want much, though."

"Eggs and coffee?"

"Fine."

"Okay. I'll be back in a bit. You stay put and leave those bandages alone."

Kid nestled back down in the bed as the medicine took effect.

When Heyes returned he woke Kid and helped his sit up and get situated in the bed for breakfast.

Let me know when you want coffee, Kid," Heyes said, knowing Kid was not able to see the coffee cup through the bandages.

"Why's Doc got my eyes covered?" he asked Heyes.

"Burnt eyelids."

"They do hurt when I try to open them," Kid replied.

"Can you manage with the eggs?"

Kid felt around the plate till he came to the pile of scrambled eggs and carefully jabbed some of the eggs on to his fork. "Yep, but I'll be glad when I can see what I'm doing again."

"Doc said he'd be by this morning. Maybe when he rebandages them he can leave space for your eyes."

Kid smiled. "I bet I'm quite a sight."

Heyes again looked at the shock of curls protruding from the top of the bandages. "That you are, Kid."

When Kid finished all he wanted of the eggs, Heyes helped him with the coffee. A few minutes later there was a knock at the door when the doctor arrived.

"How are your other patients?" Heyes asked.

"Two of them will definitely pull through. The third remains a bit questionable. Time will tell. So, let's see how this patient is doing."

"You in any pain, son?"

"Bad headache. The arms and face itch more than they hurt," Kid replied.

"Well, let's take a look at the arms first," the doctor said and began cutting away the bandages.

Both of Kid's forearms remained deeply red and raw looking, but no blisters had formed and there was no drainage on the old dressings. The doctor very gently washed each arm with water, patted them dry, and applied a generous layer of salve before applying new dressings. Then he began cutting away the bandages from Kid's face.

Heyes winced when he saw the the burnt, raw skin and the tiny blisters present on Kid's eyelids and nose.

"Keep your eyes closed for now," the doctor instructed, then turned to Heyes. "Would you mind closing the curtains. The bright light will likely hurt his eyes when he opens them."

Heyes went over and closed the curtains which significantly dulled the light in the room.

"Don't force your eyes open, son. There's blisters on your eyelids, so they aren't going to want to open very far."

Kid nodded and managed to open his eyes about a quarter of the way.

"Tell me what you see," the doctor instructed.

Kid's expression changed to one of great concern. "Nothing," he whispered.

"You see any light?" the doctor asked.

Kid shook his head. "Just dark."

"Can you make out any shadows?"

Again Kid shook his head. "Am I...?"

"Light a lamp and bring it over here," the doctor told Heyes. "Now son, I'm going to open your left eye. I'm going to do it slow. If it hurts too much, you let me know."

Kid nodded slowly, fear beginning to grip him.

The doctor reached into his bag again and pulled out a small device that Heyes thought looked like a jeweler's magnifying glass. The doctor motioned to Heyes to bring the lamp close to Kid's face as he slowly opened the eyelid and looked into Kid's eye with his instrument.

"I'm going to look at the other one, now," the doctor said and repeated the process with Kid's right eye.

"You can put the lamp out now," he told Heyes.

Heyes lowered the wick and put the lamp back on the table.

"So, what is it? Why can't he see?"

"There some swelling in the back of the eyes, most likely from the trauma and the flash of bright light in the explosion. I don't see any physical injury to the eyes or the optic nerve, so I think this is just a temporary situation and the eyesight will return."

"How soon?" Kid asked anxiously.

"No way of telling that, son. Once the swelling is gone, but I don't know how long that will take. Could be a few days, maybe a few weeks."

"Weeks?" Kid asked, aghast at the prospect.

"I'm sorry, son. We'll have to keep them covered. Don't want to risk any injury to them."

Kid sucked in air and blew it out slowly.

"I'm going to get the salve on you now and get you bandaged up again. I'll come by twice a day to change the dressings."

Kid didn't say a word as the doctor finished his work. When the doctor left, Kid scooted down in the bed and turned his back to Heyes."

"Kid, it's not as bad as your thinking... Doc says you eyesight should return," Heyes said, trying to comfort his partner.

But Kid did not reply. In fact, Kid did not so much as move the rest of the morning and much of the afternoon.

Heyes tried several times to coax Kid in to conversation, offered Kid pain medication, lunch, and drinks. Offered to read to him. But Kid didn't answer and with the bandages on, Heyes couldn't tell if Kid was asleep or simply sulking, or worse. Because Heyes didn't hear any soft snoring, he surmised one of the latter was the case.

However, late in the afternoon, Kid finally had to given in to nature.

"Heyes," Kid said quietly.

"Yeah?"

"I gotta pee."

Heyes smiled, knowing it was very much an indignation to Kid to need help to meet nature's call. But he brought the glass urinal over to Kid and placed it in Kid's hand. The urinal quickly disappeared beneath the blankets, only to surface again, now half full. Heyes took the urinal and set it aside, intending to dispose of the contents later.

"You hungry or thirsty, Kid?"

Kid rolled himself on to his back and scooted up in the bed so he could lean against the headboard. "Maybe thirsty," he replied.

"How's the headache? Need some pain medicine?"

"Yeah," Kid said reluctantly.

Heyes fixed a glass of water and medication and placed the glass in Kid's hand. Kid drank about half the liquid.

"Heyes," Kid said quietly. "What if this ain't temporary?"

"Don't you think we ought to cross that bridge if we come to it, Kid? Doc says he thinks it's temporary. He doesn't see any damage to your eyes."

"I'm scared, Heyes," Kid said softly.

Heyes sat down on the bed and took the glass from Kid's hand. "I know," he said gently.

"I can't... I can't do my job, Heyes."

"What job?"

"I can't...protect you."

Heyes smiled sadly. "What kind of protection do I need in a hotel room, Kid?"

"Can we afford staying here?"

"We'll manage."

Kid was silent for a minute or two. "Heyes, I ain't leaving this room... Not till I can see where I'm going."

"In due time, Kid. If you're willing, I can walk you around the room now, help you get your bearings so you don't feel like you have to stay in that bed all the time."

Kid thought about Heyes' suggestion and finally agreed. He pulled back the bed covers and slowly swung his feet out of the bed. "Sitting up makes my head hurt worse."

Heyes handed the glass back to Kid. "Drink the rest of this, Kid. It'll help the headache."

Kid drank the rest of the water and Heyes put the glass on the dresser. Then he returned to Kid and took his arm.

"Okay, stand up," Heyes instructed and Kid cautiously stood.

"We're going to walk directly across the room to my bed. Count the number of steps it takes to get there."

"Six," Kid said when they stopped in front of Heyes' bed.

"Okay, now turn around and walk back to your bed. I'll be right beside you, but I ain't holding on."

Kid to a timid breath and walked six steps forward and stopped. He reached out and sure enough, he was right next to his bed. He uttered a sigh of relief and a smile of accomplishment.

"Okay, Kid. Let's do the same thing to the table by the window"

They repeated the proceeded with the same success.

"Now the door, Heyes," Kid said with some excitement in his voice.

Just as they reached the door there was a knocking on the other side.

"You answer it, Kid, and then walk back to your bed," Heyes suggested.

Kid took a deep sigh and opened the door.

The doctor greeted them both and Kid returned to his bed and turned and sat down.

"Looks like you're taking the bull by the horns, son," the doctor said and Kid smiled. "Yes, sir," he replied.

The doctor changed the bandages and examined Kid's eyes again.

"Still having the headaches?"

Kid nodded. "But the medicine helps. Swelling down at all?"

"It's too early to tell, son. I'm sorry."

Kid nodded, his disappointment showing by the slump in his shoulders.

"It's much too soon to be giving up hope, son," the doctor said encouragingly. "It takes time to heal."

"Yes, sir," Kid replied.

0-0-0-0-0-

And so the days passed into a week. Kid was now quite comfortable moving about in the room but continued to adamantly refuse to leave the room. The doctor continued to visit twice a day to change the bandages and apply the salve.

"The burns are healing nicely," the doctor said at the end of the week. "In fact, I think we can forgo the bandages now."

"All of em?" Kid asked eagerly.

"I think so, son. But now that they are off, I want you to apply cool wet cloths to your arms and face at least three times a day. I'll leave a jar of the salve to apply after each soaking.

"Could a bath be instead of the cool cloths once in a while?" Heyes asked, knowing how Kid loved baths.

"So long as it's cool, and you don't use soap. Soap will dry out the skin and we don't want that to happen."

"Yes sir," Kid replied.

"Now about the headaches?"

"I haven't had one all day," Kid said proudly.

"I'm very glad to hear that," the doctor replied. "Now, let's take a look at the eyes again."

Heyes brought a lamp close and the doctor pulled the little magnifying instrument from his bag and examined both of Kid's eyes.

When he was done, the doctor leaned back in his chair and Heyes put the lamp on the dresser.

"Well?" Kid asked.

Well, I think the swelling has gone down a bit. I can see the optic nerve more clearly and there does not appear to be any damage to the nerve."

"So, I'll be able to see again soon?" Kid asked.

"I wish I had the answer for you, son. But the truth is, it's anybody's guess when your sight might return."

Kid fell silent. His shoulders slumped. "Or if," he finally said quietly.

The doctor looked at Heyes who himself looked quiet worried. "Every indication to me is that your sight will return. Like I said before, whether that will take days or weeks... I just don't know."

Heyes looked at Kid and felt helpless. "Well, thank you, doctor. We do appreciate all you've done."

Heyes walked the doctor to the door and when he left, Heyes turned and studied Kid who was still sitting on the side of the bed, the fingers of his right hand rubbing the fingers of his left.

"Kid, we just have to be patient," Heyes said with as much encouragement in his voice as he could muster.

"Maybe we need to start thinking of some plans, Heyes," Kid said quietly.

Heyes was encouraged by Kid's statement. Surely Kid wanting to make plans was a positive sign.

"What kind of pans, Kid?"

"What to do with me..."

"What?"

"You heard me. I can't go riding all over the country. I can't work...I can't shoot... I can't protect you, Heyes. I can't do nothing."

"I can't believe what I'm hearing! You're giving up! And more importantly, you're willing to just throw me aside! Do you really think the only thing I need you for is protection...? Alright, Kid, if you want to throw everything we've worked for away... if you want to just throw our partnership away over something as...stupid..."

"Stupid! Now you're calling me stupid!" Kid shouted as the argument reached a new level of loudness.

"I'm calling your idea stupid, because it is! You're not walking away from me Kid, anymore than I'm walking away from you! That's just not what partners do!"

Kid fell silent while Heyes seethed.

"Then what do we do?" Kid whispered.

Heyes looked at Kid and sighed heavily. He walked over and sat down on the bed beside Kid and put his arm around his partner's shoulders.

"The only thing we can do, Kid...We give it more time."

They sat silently together for several minutes.

"I guess I never have been very patient, have I?" Kid asked.

Heyes smiled. "Never as patient as you appear."

"Heyes... I'm still scared."

"I know, Kid. I am too."

0-0-0-0-0-

The next morning Kid woke first. By now he was able to confidently make his way around the room by counting his steps. So he tossed the covers aside and walked over to the dresser. His hand gently moved across the top of the dresser in search of a comb to run through his hair.

Heyes heard Kid stirring about and opened sleepy eyes to check on his partner.

"Little more to the right," Heyes said.

Kid moved his hand to the right and found the comb. He tilted his head back a bit and raised the comb to his hair. His hand stopped inches from his head.

"You want me to give you a shave this morning, Kid? You're looking a little stubbly," Heyes said, seeing Kid's reflection in the mirror.

"Heyes..."

"What?"

"Is it morning?"

"Yeah, it's morning, Kid."

A smile spread across Kid's face that, again, Heyes saw in the reflection of the mirror."

"It's sunny," Kid said.

"Kid," Heyes said cautiously. "Can you see that it's daylight?"

Kid's head nodded.

"Can you see me?"

Kid turned toward Heyes' bed.

"No, but I can see light... I can see light," he said excitedly. "It's...dim...but it's light, Heyes," Kid said, his chin trembling.

"I'll go get the doctor," Heyes said, grabbing his pants and hurriedly stuffing his legs into them. With only his socks on his feet and his Henley on his torso, Heyes darted out of the room and across the street to the doctor's office.

Minutes later Heyes returned with the doctor in tow.

"I understand you're seeing a bit of improvement?" the doctor asked.

Kid was sitting on the edge of his bed. "I can make out light," Kid said.

"Well, let's take a look, son."

After examining Kid's eyes, the doctor again sat back in his chair. "There doesn't look to be any swelling. The nerve looks good. A full return of your eyesight might take some time, days, even maybe a week or two. You can't rush it, son."

"No, sir." Kid said with a smile. "I'll be patient."

As the days passed, Kid's eyesight continued to improve and within a couple of weeks, had returned to normal. The last few days they remained in town, Kid ventured out with Heyes to the saloon and over the course a a couple of nights of poker, Heyes won more than enough to pay for the hotel room, the livery bill, and the doctor's care.

So, nearly a month after arriving in the small town, Kid and Heyes once again had their gear packed and their horses saddled, and were headed west, out of town. As they rode slowly through the foothills leading to the mountains beyond, Heyes turned to check on his partner and saw Kid gazing out across the landscape, a contented smile on his face.

"You okay, Kid?" Heyes called to him.

"Uh-uh. You just never know what you're missing, Heyes, till it's gone."

Heyes thought back to their argument in the hotel a couple of weeks ago. "I know, Kid... I know."