New challenge stories for 2018, not part of any other piece...... yet. #1. The Bonnet, #2. May, #3. Sabbatical, #4. Breakfast[, #5 Fireworks

#1.  [b]The Bonnet [/b]

Kid slapped the heavy saddle down on the big black’s back, and instantly regretted it.  The horse swirled around with a reproving look; Don’t take it out on me!

“Sorry Boy…”

Kid, soothed the horse’s ruffled feathers, and placed the saddle, gently this time, a little higher.  He sighed into the cold early morning air, his breath escaping like...

I love writing for the challenges set each month on Fanfic sights... Sometimes a story short will spark a longer tale ... sometimes they just sit alone... I'll park the ones that haven't found a home yet here... Calx
#1. Canada, #2. Dancing, #3. Utter Drivel


#1


Missing scenes…. Smiler with a gun :

[b]Canada[/b]



“I don’t care how much your head hurts …You gotta drink as much as you can … And you gotta keep it down.”

“Hurrrr … I’m never drinking...

Kid looked out onto the street, towards the Land Registry Office.  He kept to the shade under the eaves of the hotel.  He lifted a hand to stop Maxwell and Janx in their tracks, as they followed him into the shadows....

“Do you think he saw which way we were headed?” gasped Kid, twisting the raw hide thongs at his wrists and attacking the knots with his teeth.

“I didn’t look back to find out” shot back Heyes, having just a little more luck with his own bonds.  

He grunted, and swore, and gasped till the thin leather fell to the floor with a very satisfying snap....

Hannibal Heyes happily joined Kid in the butchering of the deer at the edge of the glade.  Gave him a chance to fill Kid in on his scheming.

“Ten percent…. Ten percent Kid…. Do you realise...

Nicole brightened as they approached the Stumpery.  Kid watched her jump from his horse and run into her husband’s arms.  They looked a strange mismatched couple, somehow....

Kid smiled at Bridget, Mary-Beth’s mother.  Despite being heavily pregnant, she, and Cora Jenkins, had the Stumpery running like a well-drilled army camp.

When he offered to help...

Kid watched his partner closely.  


For a break from a town, where the sheriff new Heyes on sight, this...

An hour had passed...

As far back as I can remember, I’ve wanted to find out everything I can about everything there is to know.  It’s just common sense.  Someday...

I do this from time to time....can't help myself... sorry... Calx
#1. The Wrong Envelope #2. Men of Harlech (Western Style) #3. Crossing the Border


#1
A challenge entry....The Wrong Envelope

I apologise.... a lot ...they put me up to it...    



To the tune of Home on the range….

In the bunk house one night, to stave off a fight
Wheat Carlson was once heard to say
I got me a plan, from a railroad man

Merdot MacDuff stood and scratched his head watching the two young men leave his livery yard.  Something about the way their eyes had hardened to dangerous flint, had unsettled him.
 
The dark one had said,


“…you’re sure gonna die a rich man MacDuff…”


And the fairer one had growled,


“…if you live long enough.”

Short story collection
#1. Sour Grapes, #2. Ghost #3. Tomorrow (Missing Scene) #4. Under the Tree



#1.....Sour Grapes...........I might develop this one into a longer tale one day....I think its got scope.


“Catch anything Heyes?”

“Darn Chill is all…”

“Hah! Thought you...

The story continues........

Later

Back on the trail North Lom was ribbing his new partner, who seemed to have found new strength since rescuing...

“When he sleeps …he’s mine” spat Haff into Red’s ear.

They were on the ground again, supposedly looking for tracks on the glass like surface, in the long shadows of early dusk.

“What?...what y’want….?”

Heyes’ eyes slowly opened to find the sun obscured by something large and hat shaped.  He had a dead arm, from the full weight of his still sleeping partner, being...

Haff was frustrated to find that, even his beloved paint pony, couldn’t pick out a path across the top of these high crags.  Spurred on by his wish to re-join Flower of Morning,...

A narrow creek sawn into the rock between high crumbling cliffs (A channel for churning melt water at another time of year)

Weaver sited the rifle again.  

He’d...

We’ll need to back track just a little

The Bounty Hunter had awoken to snarling, yipping and panting.  He lifted his head and saw the dark woods swirl before him.  Somewhere...

“There they go” whispered Kid watching Weaver and Crease disappear into the trees.

“How’d he train a horse to come to a whistle?” asked Lom sounding more than a little peeved.

The Bounty Hunter followed Weaver as he weaved through the trees in the darkness.  He held the hunting knife out in front of him and wondered if he could risk calling the outlaw’s name.

Kid looked down at the dark shape of the Bounty Hunter, prostrate on the forest floor.  He quickly grabbed up the pistol from his hip and picked up the dropped shot gun.  He searched in the...

The Bounty Hunter was a man of action, but only after he’d taken his time to work through all the angles.  

Weaver watched as the man sat pondering and twirling a silver dollar...

Heyes held up his hand to stop the party, his mare swaying her backside to and fro with excitement, pushing at Weaver’s grey, lodged solidly between the chestnut and Kid’s black.  Kid stared across the plane below them.

“Moondance …I want that door open.” Weaver spoke quietly and deliberately into the awed silence that had descended on the scene of the train robbery in the wake of the killing.

“And I want...

Kid twisted his head to look back, so that he could follow the Heyes and Curry wannabe’s progress to the rear of the train, as he assisted Veronica and Millicent to join the rest of the passengers up at...

Kid was hidden behind a disguise of round, wire-frame glasses and one of Mr Wong’s moustaches.  He took his time to be sure to select the carriage occupied by the most female passengers.  

The train’s departure...

I knew you Heyesians wouldn't want to wait too long...



After...

The town of Yellow Dog Gulch lay in a small valley between high cliffs. The town buildings partially lining...

Bit more action in this one -  Calx





The Bounty Hunter looked at the remnants of a campfire....

Two short Early outlaw years stories #1. The Best a Man can Get,  #2. The Leap.

#1.




“Sometimes a man just knows when it’s the right one” mooned Curry “You just get a feeling in your gut …when you look into their eyes …and you just know.”

“Sounds like a dodgy pie to me Kid…” sneered Heyes, he was fed up to be hearing this again.

Leaders Cabin

“We normally pipe a new job together.  Why ain’t we both going this time Heyes?  If only one of us is going I’m surprised, you don’t keep something like that for yourself.”

Kid was never the less putting on his coat and gloves and readying himself for the long trek to Red Fort.

“Like I said Kid, I...

Final part of this tryptic that makes up the prequel to 'Barber of Sherville' - This one is short and bitter sweet. Calx






DAY: Thirty-seven days

Kid looked across at Heyes, he still hadn’t moved.

“OK Heyes?”

Nothing.

Kid blew out a long sigh...

OK - here's the second part of that story thread started in Divine Depression - Calx



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The story continues straight after Divine Depression.......


The next day, in the same field

“How much further down have we got to dig, Heyes?”

Kid is stripped to the waist, his chest gleaming with...

Heyes sat with his back to the wall where he could see all the comings and goings from under the brim of his hat.  To the casual observer, he appeared to be sleeping.  When Kid Curry entered the stage waiting room, he knew better.

” What’s the next town North?” he asked the rather distracted clerk behind the counter.  The clerk...

OK  - bonus section - this is the end of Episode Four - The final Episode! Calx


Episode four continued



Next Morning

Things don’t look so grim; they’ve got a bit of food.  They’ve found water.  The horses weren’t ever...

Episode three
Train Station at Benton Turnpike

Heyes had the tickets and was waiting at the very end of the platform.  The saddle bags, bed rolls and saddles were piled at his feet.  The train was making grunting and wheeshing noises in preparation for departure.  Most passengers had already boarded.  Heyes scanned the platform for Curry.  Kid had felt...

Episode one

“Yuma?  Yuma? That the best you can come up with Heyes, Yuma!”

Curry’s eyebrows scowl, he looks like he might have eaten something that didn’t agree with him.  Truth was, a chance to eat anything would’ve been preferable to their current diet of dried jerky from the depths of their dusty saddlebags.  The last piece...

This is the full version of a tale I wrote for February 2016 challenge A Fair Days Work, it fills out the details and takes the story on to Kid's challenging day's work.  It isn't however the end of the story.  This tale shows how Heyes needs a plan to get even...that part of the tale is taken up by C D Roberts and can be found here: Grift Graft.

The story continues: Heyes and Curry are about to meet the Highbinders of the Hip Sin Tong …Will they find out what happened to Wong?

---ooooooOoooooo---

A Chinese parlour

“Oh Thaddeus?” Heyes looked a little surprised but wasn’t shaken.  “How good of you to join us. Let me introduce you to Mr Woo and Mr Ping.”  Heyes...

Hannibal Heyes was nearly asleep in the saddle.  His head nodded, chin tucked into his winter coat, hat pulled low on his brow.  Curry had seen the signs; his cousin hadn’t slept properly for days.  Didn’t mean he was worrying about anything in particular; it was just Heyes’ way, to go days without proper sleep, then, rocked in a saddle in the...

Early morning, two riders sit on their horses perusing the small town of Sherville

“Where we going first Heyes?”  The Kid looked at the livery, the hotel and the saloon in that order.  “To buy you a new razor,” was Heyes’ curt reply.  

“I don’t need a new razor.”  Kid cupped his...

A small cell in the backroom of a hick town jailhouse

"I really want to build me a cabin Heyes.” Kid had a faraway glint in his eyes.  "Out in the woods, by a good fishing lake, couple of corrals for horses..."

"These would be those rare tree climbing horses?" Heyes was feeling proddy, the small cell left no room for pacing.

They'd ordered ham, eggs, biscuits and gravy ...coffee ...and pie ...Well they were cel-ebrating.

---ooooooOoooooo---

Before leaving the last town, early as it happened, Heyes having been rather too fortu-nate at the poker tables the night before: Kid had decided to let Lom know they were moving on. He'd sent a brief telegram, *Be in Torrents...

Somewhere in Mexico

"More beans!" Curry. sniffed at his plate.  "Sick of beans" he snarled.  

"Not just beans Kid, I added chilli" beamed Heyes.  

"Oh great, so my tongue's going to be numb for a week!" scowled the blond ex outlaw.  

"Well this is Mexico Kid, it’s practically...