Prompt: The Window
December 2024 Challenge
The tall, heavy saloon owner, Lance Butcher. commonly called Bud, smiled at the dirty boy in front of him. "What did you tell me your name was?" he asked.
"Hannibal Heyes, sir. And like I said, I'm a real hard worker. I'll do whatever jobs you have real good and quick like," the boy answered sincerely.
Butcher smiled to himself as he looked the urchin over. The holes in his pants in the knees were crudely patched and sewn but the effort had been made. His hair was dirty but combed and his face and hands were clean. And he made his decision. "Well, Mr. Hannibal Heyes, my regular night boy is off for three days; you have the position that long. You got a place to sleep?"
"Me and my younger cousin been camping outside of town, sir. But I'll be here whenever you need me," Hannibal answered.
Another grin crossed Butcher's face. "How old is your cousin? You taking care of him?"
Regretting he had said anything about Jed, Hannibal answered quickly, "Couple of years younger than me but he looks even younger." He thought for a moment. "Yes, I try to take care of him."
"He a hard worker like you?"
"Yes, Mr. Butcher, the kid works real hard too." Hannibal hoped he had said the right thing.
"Well, I'll tell you what. You're hired to clean up around here the next three nights for the amount we talked about payable when you finish the last night. And you and your cousin can sleep in the storeroom and have all the beef stew and hard cooked eggs you want. That's all we serve here. How does that sound?" Butcher proposed.
"More than I could have expected, sir. That's very generous. We'll prove to you how hard we can work," Hannibal answered.
"Boy, let me tell you something. You've been blessed with what we call a silver tongue." As his new hire looked confused, he explained. "It seems you have the gift of persuasion. I bet you could tell someone to go to hell and they would thank you."
"Don't want nobody to go to hell, sir," Hannibal returned.
"Of course you don't, boy. It's an expression that means you can easily talk someone into anything. Now go find this cousin of yours and you can start working at sundown."
"Yes, sir," Han replied, running to tell Jed about his silver tongue.
ASJ*ASJ
One month later…
"Come back here, you scamps!" yelled Mr. Bloom, the shopkeeper of the small mercantile in Walnut Tree, Nebraska.
"Run, Jed!" yelled his cousin, Han. And run the two boys did. They each had two stolen apples clutched in their hands as if their lives depended on it. That wasn't far from the truth. After Han's brief stint cleaning a saloon, they had bought food for a week and made it last two. Supplementing it with the wild walnut crop and other berries, they soon found they had to fight off the birds, squirrels, and other wildlife for the few nuts remaining.
"If you'd let me buy bullets for my pa's gun, I bet we could have had one of them prairie chickens for dinner," Jed complained as they walked just off the road to the next town. Staying alert for any horses or buggies traveling the road, they were always ready to step further into the trees and disappear.
"Jed, been thinking of ways I can use my silver tongue to help us," Han told his cousin.
"You come up with something?" Jed responded.
"Not yet."
ASJ*ASJ
One month later…
A hungry, tired Han and Jed were walking down the dusty main street of a small town. Not even really a small town, it only had a few shacks, a saloon, and a small livery. All had seen better days. And none of them had any odd jobs for two orphan boys. Dejected, the two cousins were kicking at the dirt and walking with their heads down when Han ran into someone. Startled, he looked up into a furious face.
"Sorry, sir, sorry," Han said quickly. "It was an accident."
"You better look where you're going, boy" the man said, grabbing Han by the back of his shirt.
"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir." Han was getting scared what this man was going to do. There was no way he wanted to go back to Valparaiso School for Wayward Boys. Heyes felt his heart beat faster, then suddenly the man let him go.
"At least you have some manners. Get out of here, boy, and be careful and watch where you're going next time," the man softened his tone.
Han ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction and felt Jed right on his shoulder. Running until their sides started hurting, Jed breathless said, "Han, stop!"
"What Jed?" gasped Han.
Jed handed him a leather billfold. Opening the wallet, Han's eyes got big. "Where did you get this?"
"Well, when the man grabbed you, I could see a bulge in his pocket, so I reached in and took it. He never felt me take it," the Kid explained. "Is there enough money in there to get some food?"
Han laughed in glee. "Enough to eat for weeks and maybe sleep in a hotel a night or two. Where did you learn how to do that?"
"Remember that old man a few towns back we shared our food with? While you looked for work, he showed me to have 'soft hands.' I thought it was just a game…until now."
"We got to get away from this town. I promise we'll buy some food in the next one. And I've got a plan.
ASJ*ASJ
Two months laters…
Jed waited until the shopkeeper came out into the street to check his display of fresh oranges that he had recently received. Then whistling and seeming to look up in the air, Jed bumped hard into the man, knocking him into a basket of lemons and pushing him forward. It was deliberate, but Jed looked at the man innocently.
"I'm sorry, sir. I wasn't looking where I was going," he said as he bent down next to the man and started picking up lemons and handing them to him and dropping some in the handoff.
"You should have been watching your step!" the man returned.
At the moment Jed bumped into the man, Han slipped into the store unnoticed. He'd been in there earlier in the day and set a few things hidden behind a handcarved pipe display not far from the door. He scooped the small bags of flour, beans, and sugar into a pillowcase along with jerky and a box of bullets. Then listened closely as Jed was still 'helping' the man pick up lemons while purposefully dropping them and constantly apologizing.
"Boy, stop, just stop trying to help," the shopkeeper told him.
Jed straightened up and looked the man in the eyes. Han rushed out of the store behind the man's back unseen.
The man put his hand on Jed's shoulder. Han got ready to 'rescue' his cousin with his silver tongue and a speech he'd thought up about his cousin being a bit slow in the head. But it wasn't needed.
"I believe it was an accident, boy. You know eyes are the windows into your soul and I can see the innocence in those blue eyes of yours." He picked up a fresh orange. "Here, now take this and stop apologizing. Just do me a favor and look where you are going."
ASJ*ASJ
Later that night as the boys made a dinner out of the jerky and orange, Han smiled widely at his cousin. "Jed, between those innocent blue eyes of yours and my silver tongue, we're getting mighty good at stealing food."
"Han, why don't we ever steal money from the shopkeepers?" Jed asked.
"Well, you know that first wallet you picked? That man was rich. He won't miss the few dollars we got. But the shopkeepers, they work hard for a little profit…"
"Profit?" Jed asked.
Heyes thought for a moment. "I read about it in a book I found. It's the difference between what something costs the merchant to buy and what he sells it for. This book said shopkeeper's profit is small. Don't want to steal from normal people."
"Just rich ones. Right?" Jed finished for him.
They both laughed.
Han said, "Right! And with your 'innocent' blue eyes and my 'silver' tongue, I think we'll be able to eat pretty good."