A Writer's Revenge

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Kid Curry inched his way slowly through the dense forest, his rifle slung over his shoulder, his hand keeping a firm grip on the gun stock With eyes carefully scouring the land before him, each forward step was carefully planned so as not to break the silence with the snap of a twig or the crunching of dried leaves that blanketed the bed of the forest.

Suddenly he froze and peered ahead when his eyes caught the slightest of movements through small trees not twenty yards ahead. Despite his claims of poorer skills with a rifle than a gun, he skillfully brought the rifle forward, positioned the stock against his shoulder and stared down the barrel and through the gun sight.

A single shot rang out. A single man fell...

"Wait just a damn minute!' Kid exclaimed. "Kate, you're planning on hurting me again, ain't you?"

"Well I..."

"No! There comes a time when a man's gotta put his foot down, especially when there's a lady concerned. Heyes is the champeen tracker. Hurt him, for a change!"

"Kid, readers aren't interested in hurting Heyes," Kate said apologetically.

"In your opinion. Ask one of them Heyes fans what they think about Heyes getting hurt."

"Kid, I've only had one or two reviews that ever suggested I hurt Heyes," Kate countered.

"So that's what this is all about? Them damn reviews you and all the other writers squawk about? You think hurting Heyes won't get you as many reviews, don't you?"

"It's not just reviews, Kid. It's...readership. More folks read hurt Kid stories than hurt Heyes stories."

"Only because you hurt me more than you do Heyes! Nope, this time I refuse! You go right ahead and tap on that fancy keyboard till your fingers hurt, but I ain't doing it."

"Kid, the writer has control over the character. The story develops because of the writer," Kate replied, trying to point out the obvious.

"Not in this case You can just fire all the shots you want. You've said yourself I ain't real, so they ain't gonna hurt me, not this time!"

"Kid, if you don't let her write whatever it is she's got planned, there won't be no story," Heyes reminded his partner.

"Fine, no story!" Kid replied.

Heyes looked at Kate and rolled his eyes. They both understood just how stubborn the gunslinger one of this duo could be sometimes.

"Kid, it's them stories and them...what do you call em, Kate?"

"Reruns."

"Yeah, them reruns that keeps us going. Without them we're just...Rowdy and Favor."

"Who?" Kid asked.

"See, right there! That's my point," Heyes replied.

"Heyes, Kate has written some two hundred stories about us, and a hundred and ninety-three of em have been hurt Kid stories. I'm telling you there's something wrong with her!"

Heyes bit his lip. He had to agree with Kid's argument, but he also knew he had to agree silently so as not to stir Kate's wrath.

"Kate, could I have a minute with the Kid alone?" he asked.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Heyes. Every time the two of you start thinking on your own, things go awry."

"It'll be okay, I promise," Heyes assured her.

"I've heard that before, Heyes."

"Heyes, I'm adamant about this, I mean it," Kid snarled. "You know how many blue shirts I've had to buy because she keeps putting bullet holes in em?"

"Kid, you got a rifle in your hand and you're in a forest, so why don't you go try to shoot us a deer for supper and let me talk to Kate alone," Heyes suggested.

Kid pondered this for a moment as he glared at the author with a look of revenge in his eye. "You just make sure she keeps me out of firing range, and make her put that pen down, and I'll go," Kid told his partner.

"Kate?" Heyes asked.

Kate glanced at the scant sentences on her computer screen. "Ten minutes," she offered. "Then I start typing."

"Agreed," Heyes replied. "Go on, Kid, while the gettin's good."

"You watch them fingers of hers as I walk away, Heyes," Kid told him, then turned, stopped and took a cautious look back, then turned again and disappeared into the woods.

Kate sighed heavily. "He's been getting awfully cocky lately."

Heyes nodded as he too had noticed some changes in his partner. "I think this amnesty thing has been wearing hard on him," he replied, hoping that sounded like a reasonable excuse.

"Well I can't change the facts, Heyes. Without that amnesty always just out of reach, well there's just not a lot of interest in the two of you. Nobody wants to read about two former outlaws There's no danger and no excitement in a couple of former outlaws."

"I know, but it does grow weary sometimes."

"And a wounded Kid does draw on the reader's emotions. They like to feel sorrow and empathy for the two of you."

Heyes nodded. "But Kate, I know your heart belongs to Kid, and...I understand that but, and I know this is going to sound strange to you...but there are some Heyes fans out there, too. It wouldn't hurt you to give Kid a break once in a while and, much as I don't particularly like the idea, maybe hurt me for a change."

"You really think someone would read that?" she asked, honestly taken aback with the idea.

Heyes nodded. "I can think of three or four people that might read that, maybe more," he said, trying to sound hopeful but seeing the doubt in Kate's eyes. "I tell you what, you hurt me in a story and give Kid a break, and if you don't get just as many readers as you do with all them hurt Kid stories, Kid and me will agree to never getting that amnesty. We'll always keep trying, but we'll never get it. That way you and them other writers will never run out of story ideas. How's that?"

Kate chewed her lip and again glanced at her computer screen. She had such a wonderful hurt Kid story planned. "Well," she said slowly. "I suppose I could try that, but just once. If it doesn't work, I'm never trying it again."

Agreed," Heyes replied and took a deep and anxious breath. "Go ahead, start typing and I'll go find Kid and bring him back."

Kate nodded and Heyes watched her hands slowly reach for the keyboard...

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Heyes and Kid returned ten minutes later.

"Kid agreed to the terms," Heyes announced as he and Kid timidly approached Kate from behind so they could both glance over her shoulder at the keyboard.

Hannibal Heyes inched his way slowly through the dense forest, his rifle slung over his shoulder, his hand keeping a firm grip on the gun stock...

"You just switched the names out?" Kid asked.

Kate nodded. And I have most of the outline written down, too. Here, look," she said and scrolled down the page to display the brief outline that they both read word for word.

"He gets taken in by a harem of beautiful women scantily clothed?" Kid read aloud.

Heyes smiled. "And has his way with each of them," he read approvingly.

"And Kid spends months alone in the desert hunting for his partner?" Kid whined. "Until he finally gives up and out of despair he joins...a monastery? I'm thinking maybe we out to reconsider the whole idea."

"Nope, too late, Kid. Maybe next time you'll think twice before you start complaining about all the hurt Kid stories."

Heyes uttered a chuckle that grew into a hearty laugh.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"You're clever, Kate. You got two birds with one stone, didn't you, you little wench? In this one story, your hurt me, but you also managed to get the Kid where it hurts him most..."

Kate turned to Heyes with a wicked smile and a wink.

"Now that's the mark of a fine writer!" Heyes exclaimed.