A Gold(en) Opportunity

0-0-0-0-0

"Kate, sorry to barge in on you but the fact of the matter is, well... Kid and me are a little worried about you," Heyes announced without giving Kate any prior notice of their presence.

Kate, who was spending the afternoon doing a bit of shopping at the mall, tried to ignore the voice as she navigated a rack of ladies intimate apparel. "Can't this wait," she whispered sternly without moving her lips.

"When a friend is in distress, you can't just pick and choose the opportune moment to intervene," Kid told her. "I like the red double D lacy one," he added.

Kate quickly gave the hangers a shove and moved to a table of ugly Christmas sweaters. "I wasn't in distress until you two showed up," she hissed through gritted teeth.

Making a tisking sound with his tongue, Heyes shook his head knowingly. "It's worse than we thought, Kid. She's in denial."

"Are you finding everything you need?" asked a pretty young sales woman who had noticed Kate talking to herself.

"Oh, yes," Kate replied, trying hard to mask her embarrassment. "Just thinking out loud about who I still need to buy gifts for.

"Well, if I can be of any help, may name is Candy."

"Candy, a delectable name, and I do have a sweet tooth," Kid said as he folded his arms across his chest and watched the lady move on to another customer.

"Kid, stop thinking what I know you're thinking. We came here cause we was worried about Kate," Heyes scolded.

Kid let his arms drop to his sides and turned his attention back to the matters at hand. "Heyes, where did she go?"

Both cowboys quickly looked around the store in search of their recently elusive friend.

"There she is!" Heyes shouted as he saw Kate making a hasty jaunt toward the exit.

"You can't get rid of us that easy," Kid told Kate when they caught up to her. "Remember, Heyes is the champ-een tracker in all of Utah."

"So I've been told," Kate replied.

"Kate, ignoring the Kid and me isn't the answer..."

Kate stopped in her tracks and stared at Heyes. "I haven't been ignoring you," she protested.

Heyes gave her a condescending look. "Honestly Kate, when was the last time you hurt the Kid?"

"I... I told you I've been having some computer problems lately."

"Uh-huh. That have been resolved for over a week," Heyes replied.

"But, it's November and we're in the midst of an Indian Summer, and the leaves this fall are beautiful. I don't want to miss out on all that," Kate said defensively.

"So you spend the day inside this giant covered town?" Kid asked.

Kate turned away and headed toward the food court with two handsome but annoying cowboys hot on her trail.

"I smell food!" the one with the bottomless pit exclaimed.

Heyes shot his partner a scolding glare and he quickened his step to walk beside the woman who was trying hard to ignore them both. "Kate, we don't mean to needle you, we're just worried about you. Think about it, you haven't hurt the Kid in … well over a month."

"Nor letten me take a both neither!"

"Letten? What kind of a word is letten?" Heyes asked, throwing Kid a snarly look over his shoulder. "And, try to stay downwind, Kid."

Kate stopped in the center of the food court and spun around to mince no words telling the two that this was neither the time nor the place for this discussion, but the pure look of amazement on Kid's face made her bite back and suppress her words.

"You ever seen so many cafes all clustered up together, Heyes?" Kid asked, sounding like a child on his first trip to Disneyland. "Kate, what's a Gy-ro?"

"It's pronounced ear-row and it's seasoned lamb in a pita... in a flatbread."

Kid closed his eyes and ran his tongue across his upper lip, then took a deep breath, savoring the aroma. "I'll have a couple of them."

"You got money?" Heyes asked. "Or are you expecting Kate to buy your lunch?"

Kid reached into his pocket and pulled out a five dollar half eagle gold piece and six Indiana Head pennies. "I've got money," he replied.

Kate sighed. "Oh, Kid, you can't spend that money here," she told him.

"Why not? My money's good!" he protested.

"It's too good, Kid," Kate told him. "All those coins are what we would call collectible, and put the gold one back in your pocket. You shouldn't be flashing that around."

"Why?"

"That gold coin alone is worth about six hundred and fifty dollars in today's market."

"WHAT!" the two men asked simultaneously.

Kate nodded. "The price of gold has gone up considerably since your day," Kate told them.

"So, if I was to give you this coin, you could take it to an Assay Office and get six hundred and fifty dollars?' Kid asked.

"I'd take it to a coin dealer but, yes," Kate replied.

Kid looked at Heyes. "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin?"

A wide smile spread across Heyes' face as he nodded at his partner.

"We're rich!" Kid exclaimed.

"And it's legal!" Heyes added.

Kate noticed several diners staring at them and she quickly hushed them both and ushered them to a table. "Keep your voices down. You want to get robbed?"

Both men looked around the large, open area at the other diners consisting mostly of women and children, with a few, very bored looking men in the mix. They then turned back to Kate and didn't even try to mask their very amused expressions.

"Right Kate, the likes of us are gonna get robbed. We need to teach you a thing or two about a threat," Kid told her.

"Seriously, couldn't we finish this conversation another time?"

"Kate, we could go back and collect a dozen half eagles and bring em back here and have you sell em and we could turn a sixty dollar investment into almost eight thousand dollars," Heyes told her. "And we'd cut you in for... a thousand."

"Except I'm not going to do it," Kate said flatly.

"Why not?" Kid asked.

"Because it would be like insider trading or... something along those lines. I'm sure it would be illegal."

"Why? We won't steal the money," Kid protested. "I'm sure Big Mac would loan us sixty dollars in gold coins."

"We'd hafta cut him in too, then," Heyes reminded his partner.

"And we all know Big Mac McCreedy is a shyster!" Kate exclaimed, breathing a sigh of relief for having thought of using Big Mac in her argument against their idea. "Why, he'd be wanting you to do it again and again and pretty soon he'd be the one getting rich and you'd just be the go-between!"

Blue eyes and brown eyes locked and Kate knew she had hit on something. "Why he'd be living high on the hog while you two were left squeezing the coin till the eagle screamed," she added to emphasize her point.

"She's right, Heyes."

Heyes nodded. "I hate to admit it, but she is."

"So will you settle for an Gyro? My treat?" Kate asked.

"Kid sighed. "I'll settle for two, and a hot bath when I get home."

Kate smiled. "It's a deal, Kid. I promise that when I get home, I'll write you into a nice, hot, sudsy bath."

"Excuse me, but I couldn't help over hearing," said a little gray haired lady sitting alone at a nearby table. "Could you write me into that bath, too?"