Heyes and Curry were riding into a small Colorado town just like they have ridden into so many other small wherever towns. On the outside nothing appeared to be any different from any of those other entrances into those other towns, but appearances can be deceiving.
It was early fall and the colourful leaves and trees surrounding the town and bordering the roadway into said township were making the ride both interesting and exhilarating. The sun was shinning and though the air was crisp, it was a very pleasant day and the partners had been looking forward to getting into a nice town and enjoying a nice beer.
Heyes was all grins, his dark eyes sparkling with delight at the crisp fall scenery surrounding him; he loved the fall, the only downside being that it was the fore front of winter. Karma-Lou appeared to be in much the same spirit, coming into town with her neck arched, her nose snorting and her feet prancing. Kid on the other hand was solemn and looking ticked off. He was glaring at his partner in irritation and was constantly having to apply leg pressure to ole' Buck in order to encourage the gelding to keep up with the dancing mare.
“Geez Heyes, will you cut it out!” Kid finally complained, having come to the end of his patience.
Heyes frowned and looked back at his partner. “What!?” He asked defensively. “What am I doing!?”
“You're being YOU!” Kid snipped. “That's what you're doing!”
Heyes sent another look back to his partner, this one incredulous. “WHAT!?”
“Well just look at you!” Kid insisted. “Everything about you says; 'Hey look at me! I'm someone special! I'm someone you want to know!' Weren't you the one who insisted that we had to work at 'blending in' now that we're going for the amnesty?”
Heyes pulled Karma to a halt and turned her to face the Kid, irritation now wiping out the smile that had been on his face.
“We do blend in!” Heyes snarked, feeling resentful now. “Didn't I get rid of that black studded holster that I liked so much because you said it drew too much attention?!”
“Yeah, and a good thing ya' did too!” Kid shot back at him. “That thing made ya' look like a two bit gunfighter wanna be.”
“Gunfighter wanna be!? The one thing I ain't Kid is a wanna be!”
“Yeah, well you ain't no gunfighter.” Kid pointed out. “But packin' aground that fancy rig made you look like you were tryin' to be. You were attracting the eye of every real gunfighter between the West Coast Mountains and the Grand Canyon—you were lucky you didn't get your head shot off!!”
“Oh come off it!” Heyes complained. “Nobody ever challenged me to a gunfight when I was wearing that rig! You're imagining things!”
“That's because the real gunfighters would take one look at ya' and instantly write ya' off as a 'wanna be' and not worth their time!” Kid informed him. “Then any of the other 'wanna be's' who thought they were gonna challenge ye' got one look at me and thought better of it! Remember me Heyes!? The one who watches your back! You'd be surprised at how much I see from back here!”
“Gunfighter wanna be.” Heyes grumbled, all ticked off now. “Why would I even want to be a 'gunfighter wanna be'?! And besides!” He pointed out, suddenly perking up. “I got rid of that holster as soon as we started on our amnesty anyways! So what's got the burr under your blanket now!?”
“It's just YOU!” Kid insisted.
“Kid, you're gonna havta be a little more specific than that!”
“You got rid of the holster, but you're still sportin' that hat with a hatband that stands out like a beacon on a stormy night!” Kid pointed out. “The law can pick you out of a crowd at a Sunday social when you're wearing that hat!”
“You should talk!” Heyes countered. “I'm surprised your neck doesn't break with the silver plates you got strapped around your hat! Talk about calling attention! I don't even think that is a legitimate hat band!”
“It adds enough weight to my hat to keep it on my head Heyes! At least it serves a purpose!”
“FINE!” Heyes reluctantly conceded. “We're even on the hat issue! Can we carry on now!? I'm thirsty!”
“Fine!”
Heyes lightly touched Karma's neck with the rein and she pivoted around to continue dancing down the street. She was feeling good and she wasn't about to let the angry tones of the two humans destroy her sparkling mood.
Kid groaned. Heyes heard it and pulling up again, glared back at his partner.
“Now what!?” He demanded.
“I donno Heyes.” Kid shook his head. “You keep saying one thing and doing another.”
Heyes was becoming frustrated. This was getting ridiculous.
“WHAT!?”
“Well....” Kid seemed reluctant, but then sighed and carried on. “I've tried to accept this because I know how much you care about that mare.” Instantly Heyes took on a defensive stance. “But Heyes, she's too damn pretty! How are we supposed to blend in when you're riding a horse like that? She's stands out—more than your hat and your old holster put together!”
Heyes looked sullen and gave his liver chestnut mare a consoling pat on her arched neck.
“Yeah, but that's to our advantage, Kid.” He pointed out in his mare's defence. “Don't ya' see?”
“Our advantage!?” Kid was incredulous. Then he set back in his saddle and rested his hands on the saddle horn. “Okay Heyes, I'm real interested in how you're gonna explain that one.”
“Well....” Heyes looked a little worried for a moment, but then inspiration hit him and he grinned. “Cause people are so taken with what a fine horse Karma is that they're too busy looking at her to be paying much attention to the bloke who's riding her. So she's actually a deterrent to people who might recognize us.”
“Well maybe I oughta just get myself a flashy horse too then!” Kid suggested. “Then we can be twice as invisible!”
“Oh well that would just be silly Kid.” Heyes disagreed. “We can't be twice as invisible if we already are invisible. Too much would be just as bad as none at all.”
Heyes flashed his dimples and then nudged his deterrent to move on and Karma danced and pranced and snorted her way down Main Street. Kid pushed Buck into a trot to catch up and then smirked as he watched men on the boardwalk glancing their way to admire the fine horse.
Then Heyes' argument got blown out of the water when the young ladies accompanying some of the men would follow their man's focus. Since most of them were not too interested in the horse, they would then allow their attention to drift upwards to the handsome man riding her.
Feminine faces would blossom into appreciative smiles and Heyes' grin broadened while he tipped his silver studded hat to each and every one. Curry continued to watch with amusement as the men would suddenly become aware of what their ladies were looking at and the admiring smiles would be replaced by irritated scowls.
Possessive arguments would follow in the wake of the partners' progress through town and pretty soon many of the male citizens were sending menacing glares directly at the man wearing the black studded hat and riding the fiery mare.
Heyes' dimples disappeared and he dropped his head, trying to discretely hide his features under the brim of his hat.
“Maybe to ought to ride on to the next town Kid.”
“Ahh huh.”
