Fan Fiction vs actors. Heyes and Curry want to know just who are the real Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry

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"Kate, are you busy?" Heyes asked just as Kid gave him a nudge that sent him lunging a few steps forward.

Kate sat at her computer, her back to the two cowboys."No, unfortunately not busy. What is it this time, Heyes?"

"You ain't been putting me an Kid in many situations lately. We were afraid you might be sick or something."

Kate shook her head. "No, I'm fine."

"You getting tired of us, Kate?' Kid asked.

Kate chuckled. "No, of course not. Maybe I have a touch of writer's block."

"Is that contagious, cause if it is, we'd better get out of here, Heyes."

"It ain't contagious, Kid. It ain't even an illness."

Both Heyes and Curry grew silent, not sure how to approach Kate with their most recent speculation.

"Was there something else?" Kate finally asked.

Kid gave Heyes a second nudge with his shoulder, again shoving Heyes forward. "Go on," Kid whispered.

"Well, you've said it yourself, Kate. When you don't have Kid and me in some horrible dilemma, Kid and me start...well we start thinking for ourselves."

Standing behind her, both Kid and Heyes saw Kate's shoulders drop. "What kind of trouble did you get yourselves into now?"

"No trouble," Kid was quick to say. "No trouble at all...There's just some things that we've been thinking about and ... we don't rightly understand."

Kate pulled her fingers from the keyboard and swiveled her chair around to look at the two cowboys. "What don't you understand?"

"Them actors," Kid said as though every uncertainty he had was now out in the open.

"What actors?"

"Them two that you said went around pretending to be us."

"Ben and Pete?"

"Yeah, them two. You said this year is 2021, right?" Heyes asked.

"Uh-uh."

"And Ben and Pete were pretending to be us in the 1970s, right?"

"That's right."

Heyes looked at Kid with a confused expression. "About a hundred years after me and Kid was us?"

Kate sighed. "Neither of you seem very good at grasping the concept of fantasy role playing, do you?"

"Of...What?" Kid asked.

"You both might recall that I have explained that the two of you are fictional characters."

"Uh-uh," they replied in unison but with a skeptical tone in their voices.

"The two of you were... created in 1971 by a man with a very wonderful imagination."

"You're saying we didn't exist before 1971?" Heyes asked.

"That's right."

"But we're living in 1860s and 70s, and 80s?" Kid asked.

"Right again."

Kid snorted. "That ain't even possible."

"Kid, when Heyes read Tom Sawyer to you, did you think there really was a Tom Sawyer?"

"Course not. He was written by that Mark Twain fella. Just a story is all..."

Kid's jaw dropped as he realized what Kate was saying. "Heyes and me are just outlaws in a story?" he asked with utter disbelief.

Kate nodded. "I'm afraid so," she said sadly.

"Then what about them two actors? All they was doing was playing cowboys and Indians? Playing dress up?" Kid asked.

"Here, let me show you," Kate said, returning her attention to the keyboard and typing the words 'You Tube.' Seconds later, the introduction scene to an Alias Smith and Jones episode appeared on the screen.

Two heads leaned way over Kate's shoulders, memorized by what they were seeing on the computer screen.

"That's us," Heyes whispered.

"You're saying all we have to do is stay out of trouble till the governor figures we deserve amnesty?...And in the mean time, we'll still be wanted?"

They heard the all too familiar words and saw the all too familiar faces. Both jumped back away from the screen, away from Kate.

"Stop that!" Heyes demanded loudly.

Kate hit the dissolve icon and the screen faded to it's familiar blue "time out" screen.

"That wasn't us we just saw?" Heyes asked.

Kate looked at them both and shook her head.

"That was them two actors?"

Kate nodded her head.

"But they look just like us! They talk just like us! That's not just some characters out of a book. They look...real!"

"They are real. It's the two of you that... aren't," Kate tried to explain.

Heyes sighed heavily and scratched the back of his neck as he began nervously pacing the floor. He stopped suddenly and pointed an accusing finger at Kate. "Where are they now? Uh? Did they get amnesty...and we didn't? " he demanded to know.

It was obvious to Kate that the situation was just getting more and more clouded. She took a deep breath and leaned slightly forward in her chair.

"What you just saw... were the actors, Ben and Pete. They were acting, playing the parts of Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry. In Fan Fiction, all the writers conjure the two of you up, to fill that void that was left when the series was canceled. If you notice in all those stories, no two writers create you exactly the same."

"Are them actors out there somewhere, pretending to be me and Kid?"

Kate shook her head. "No, those shows, like you just saw on the screen, were only...," Kate hesitated, trying to think of the right words. "They were only produced for three years. These Fan Fiction stories have been in production for fifty years."

"What about them two men that were jumping on the train? Now that weren't us, and, it weren't them two actors!" Kid exclaimed. "Just more...more...what's the word, Heyes?"

"Impostors?"

"Yeah! Impostors!"

"Those are stuntmen," Kate said. "They do the dangerous work to keep the two of you, or rather the actors, from getting hurt."

"Uh? You telling me them other Heyes and Curry fellas jump a train, but they don't really jump a train, cause someone else jumps the train? Then how the hell do Heyes and Curry get on the train?... Heyes, what the hell is she talking about?"

Heyes sighed again. "I think I'm beginning to understand this, Kid. These actors are just like stage actors...without the stage. They play a part for a while and then for one reason or another, they move on to another role, right?"

"That's right."

"And these stunt men is like...Oh, what's the word?" Heyes said with some exasperation.

"An understudy," Kid said and Heyes and Kate stopped and looked at him, stupefied.

Kid shrugged. "I don't know where that came from," he explained.

"Do me and Kid move on to other roles, I mean like to other Fan Fiction roles, whatever the hell that is?"

Kate shook her head. "That's not how fan fiction works. You'll always be Kid Curry and Hannibal Heyes."

"We're the permanent Kid and Heyes?"

"That's right."

"Then how come you say we're fiction, and the actors ain't?"

Kate opened her mouth to respond but quickly closed it again. She had no logical reply. "You know, Heyes, the more I think about it, the more I think you may be right. Maybe the two of you are the real Kid Curry and Hannibal Heyes."

"Damn right we are," Kid said defiantly. "And I'd like to see that Kid Curry actor try to tell me otherwise. Bet he ain't half as fast a draw as I am," Kid said, puffing his chest a bit and drawing his hat down ever so slightly.

Kate thought about defending the actor's sharp eye hand coordination by telling Kid about the man's USTA Celebrity Ranking, but reconsidered when she realized she would have to explain the rules and regulations and even the very concept of tennis to Kid.

"You're right, Kid," Kate said. "And you can rest assured that as long as I am writing your adventures, you will always be the fastest gun in the west. Now, have I answered your questions sufficiently?"

Heyes nodded, though Kate could also see the wheels turning in his head. "For now."

"Kate, can I offer you a piece of advice?" Kid asked.

Kate nodded. "Of course, Kid."

"You best find a way to get outta that writer's block, cause if you don't, well judging by Heyes here...I think we'll be back with more questions."

Kate smiled. "I think you're right, Kid. Even if it's just scribbles, I'll be keeping the two of you very busy."