A(n)other Hard Lesson

Jed's 17 and Heyes has plans for a fun evening, but even a Heyes' plan can go wrong. This story actually comes before Fool Me Once...



Jed’s 17th Birthday

Jed slowly stretched in bed and opened his eyes to see the sunlight streaming in, and smiled as he remembered it was his birthday. He was finally seventeen.

“Mornin’, sleepyhead,” his cousin Heyes said, as he threw a pillow at him. “It’s about time you woke up.” He was already dressed and pulling on his boots.

Jed yawned and stretched again. He pulled back the covers, swung his bare feet on the floor and slowly stood up. “What’s the hurry?” Jed yawned again. “Anything special goin’ on today?” Jed wondered if Heyes remembered his birthday.

Heyes turned away from Jed and grinned. “Nope, nothing special about today ‘cept I promised Silky we’d clean up the cellar like he’s been askin’ us.” The boys lived with a bachelor, Silky, who was a con artist. He caught them thieving from him when they were younger, took pity on them and invited them to stay at his house. They were expected to do Silky’s errands and run his cons, when needed, in exchange for room and board.

“Clean the cellar?” Jed disappointedly asked. Heyes had forgotten his birthday. How do you forget your only family member’s birthday?

Heyes started to chuckle and turned back to Jed with a warm smile. “Happy Birthday, Jed!”

“You did remember!” the relief was evident in Jed’s voice.

“How could I forget my little cousin’s birthday? Hurry up and get dressed, unless you wanna spend the whole day in bed sleepin’. I gotta special day planned for us.”

Jed usually loved Heyes’ special plans; although, he did remember a few plans that didn’t go so well.

Jed quickly got dressed, splashed water on his face, and tried to comb his curly hair into place. “What kinda plan, Heyes?” he eagerly asked. He gave up using the comb, wet his hair and ran his fingers through his hair to push it back before putting on his hat.

“Well, this afternoon I figured we’d go take a bath.”

“A bath? Why a bath, Heyes? We had one about a week ago and I ain’t that dirty.”

“Yeah, but you’re gonna wanna be ‘specially clean for tonight.”

“What you got plan?” Jed looked worried at what kind of plan required a bath.

“It’s about time, cousin, you had yourself a woman.” Heyes grinned.

“How you know I haven’t had a woman already.”

“Have you?”

“Kissed a few.”

“Not the same. You’re gonna have you a woman tonight.”

“You never been with a woman, have you?”

“Well of course, I…no.” Heyes wanted to lie, but knew Jed could read him and recognized when he lied or told the truth.

“Where we gonna get us women, Heyes?”

“Where all the purty gals go on Friday night, to the dance hall.”

Heyes and Jed spent the day doing all the things Jed loved to do; they target practiced, exercised the horses, had a delicious meal, and took a bath.

In the early evening, they put on their best clothes, polished their boots, and tried to tame their hair. “Ready?” Heyes asked with a dimpled smile.

“You bet!” Jed grinned back.

They walked to the local dance hall, crowded with the younger society courting each other, and nervously walked in.

The local girls quickly spotted the new handsome prospects; they whispered and giggled as they pointed to Heyes and Jed.

Jed gulped and whispered. “Heyes, now what?”

“Just be polite and offer them punch to drink or a twirl on the dance floor. Now go on.” Heyes gently pushed Jed towards to wall of girls lined up waiting for the boys to ask them for a dance.

Heyes walked up to a beautiful brunette and escorted her to the dance floor. As he passed Jed, he nodded towards the pretty blonde. Jed blushed as he timidly asked her to join him on the dance floor and then led her onto the floor.

The boys danced with several of the young ladies and stole a quick kiss whenever they could. The girls were anxious to be asked by these dashing newcomers and ignored their regular dates.

The local boys were jealous and talked among themselves. Who were these new men and what was so special about them that the girls were giving them all the attention? They were infuriated these two were moving in on their women.

Later in the evening, Heyes walked up to Jed. “Me and Eleanor are goin’ outside for a walk. Care to join us?”

Jed looked questioningly at May, who nodded. “Sure we’ll join ya.”

The two couples walked around to the back of the building when Heyes pulled an eager Eleanor into a corner and started kissing her.

Jed followed his older cousin’s lead and soon he and May were kissing under a tree.

The local boys had enough. Eight of them stomped out to the back of the hall and, dividing up, grabbed Heyes and Jed. “Eleanor and May, you get back into the building now or we’ll tell your pa what you was doin’.” The girls quickly scurried back into the dance hall.

Heyes and Jed were each held by two men while the others took turns hitting them in the belly and face. “You leave our women alone!”

Heyes sarcastically commented, “Didn’t see you by them to know they was yours,” which earned him a kick in the groin. Heyes doubled over and fell to the ground when those holding him let go and walked back into the hall.

“Heyes…Heyes, you alright?” Jed crawled over to his cousin.

“Just give me a minute,” he barely mumbled.

Jed gave Heyes a few minutes and thought best if they leave the area and get back to Silky’s house. The two made a sorry sight as they limped, bruised and battered, into the front door.

“What in tarnation happened to you two?” Silky stormed.

“We was at the dance hall having a good time when the locals didn’t like the attention we was given their women,” Jed explained as the two slowly made their way up the stairs to their room.

“We need to talk, boys.” Silky calmly said after hearing what had happened.

“Can we please talk tomorrow morning, Silky? I really need to lay down a spell,” Heyes requested.

“Sure…sure; this talk can wait until tomorrow morning. Get some rest.”

They made their way into their room and slowly lowered themselves onto their beds.

“Sorry about your birthday, Jed. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“Hey, it was a good day ‘til the beaten. That May sure smelled good, and kissed good, too.”

“So did Eleanor.” Heyes muttered as he drifted off to sleep.

Next morning, Silky called the boys into his study. “Sit down, boys, we need to talk.” Heyes and Jed sat down on the chairs by the desk as Silky sat on the desk between them. “What happened last night?”

“We wanted to celebrate Jed’s birthday and get us some women. That’s all,” Heyes spoke for the two of them and Jed nodded in agreement.

Silky chuckled. “You learned a hard lesson last night. You don’t go after the local lasses when you ‘want’ a woman. That’s what the saloon girls are for. No wonder you got beat up. Those boys were just defending their women folk from strangers.”

Silky studied both boys. “Have either of you been with a woman?”

They looked at the ground embarrassed and shook their heads knowing they couldn’t lie to the con artist.

“We’ve kissed plenty, just never got more than that,” Heyes quickly explained.

“And how old are you two?”

“I turned seventeen yesterday and Heyes is almost nineteen.”

“Hmm…” Silky thought for awhile. “Why don’t you boys clean up that cellar like you’ve been promising me for a few weeks? I got some work to do.”

“Yes, sir,” they said in unison as they sighed, then got up and left the room.

A few days later, Silky called them back into his study. When they arrived, they noticed Silky’s very close friend, Jenny, already seated and having a sherry.

“Come in… come in, boys, and sit down,” Silky encouraged. “Jenny, these are the boys I was telling you about.”

Heyes and Jed glanced at each other and blushed. What exactly had Silky said about them to Jenny?

“So these are the boys who want to become men,” Jenny looked both of them over as they sat down on the chairs opposite her seat.

They looked expectantly to Silky, not knowing what to say, or think for that matter.

“Think you can help them, Jenny?”

“Oh, I think I know two lovely ladies who would fancy helping these boys. I’ll take them back with me now and return them tomorrow, if it’s alright with you, Silky.”

Heyes and Jed nervously made eye contact and then looked at Silky.

“Sure… sure. Just return them as men.” Jenny stood up to leave, but the boys remained seated. “Off you go; just follow Jenny and do what she says. And mind your manners.”

Heyes and Jed hesitantly stood up and followed Jenny into her carriage. They rode to Jenny’s house of ill-repute on the other side of town and slowly walked into the house after Jenny.

“Maxie and Grace, come down here. I need your assistance,” Jenny called up the stairs.

Maxie and Grace came hurriedly down the stairs. Maxie was striking with her long, auburn hair and Grace was a very pretty blonde. Both ladies were young, but very experienced at their job. “Yes, Jenny?”

“These two boys are in need of a few lessons from you two. Teach them a few things they need to know about women, understand me?” Jenny said with a wink.

“Oh, yes, Jenny!” answered Maxie as she ran her eyes up and down an anxious Heyes.

“We understand perfectly,” replied Grace as she grasped a reddening Jed by the hand and started leading him upstairs.

Heyes and Jed made brief eye contact as they silently communicated; Heyes assuring Jed everything would be alright. They blushed as they walked upstairs to learn another ‘hard’ lesson.

The next morning, Heyes and Jed walked into Silky’s house talking quietly as they compared notes.

“I didn’t know they liked…”

“And who would’ve thought to touch them…”

“Why do ya think they want…”

“Don’t know, but did Grace show you…”

Silky walked down the stairs smiling. “I hope you learned your lessons, boys; those were expensive teachers.”

“We sure did, Silky!” Jed grinned back at him.

“Absolutely!” Heyes chimed in with a matching grin.

Heyes and Jed made their way upstairs to their room.

As they passed Silky on the stairs, he reached out to stop them. “And boys…”

“Yes, Silky?” they asked.

“Happy birthday to the both of you.”

“Thanks, Silky!” they replied in unison and then ran up the stairs to their room eager to talk about what they had learned the previous night.

Silky watched them go to their room and shook his head as he continued walking downstairs. “Aw, to be young again.”