One Can Smile and Smile and Still be a Villain
July 2022 Challenge
“Can’t find him anywhere,” Jed “Kid” Curry reported back to the waiting members of the Devil’s Hole Gang.
“Ain’t like Kyle to disappear like that,” said Wheat, with a hint of concern in his voice. “Did you look upstairs? He had eyes for that little blonde with a big blue bow in her hair.”
Giving Wheat an annoyed glare, Curry answered, “I opened every door upstairs. He ain’t the one with that blonde and he ain’t upstairs.”
Hannibal Heyes hid a grin from the gang. “You did WHAT?”
“I looked in every room. We ain’t got time to waste; need to get out in front of that storm.”
Imagining the encounters that his partner had interrupted, Heyes' grin grew to include dimples.
Annoyed, Curry turned his annoyed glare to his partner. “Wheat, when did you last see him?”
Thinking for a minute, Wheat said, “Playing poker in the Blue Coyote saloon. He was winning real big. Seemed like a real friendly game.”
“Kyle was winning?” Heyes interrupted. “That was a full table of men that knew how to play poker.”
“Yeah, well, ah, I didn’t think of it that way but that was mighty suspicious,” Wheat answered slowly.
Heyes turned to the other gang members. “Any of you recognize any of those men in that game?” Heads shook all around.
“Only Wheat and Kyle went to the Blue Coyote. The rest of us went to the Leaky Bucket; they got new dancing girls there,” admitted Hank. “But we looked there for him. Games still going on but two of the seats are empty.”
“Come on.” Heyes motioned to Curry as he marched to the Blue Coyote. “Rest of you keep looking in every barn and outbuilding you can find. Kyle’s here somewhere.”
Ignoring orders, Wheat followed Heyes and Curry and joined them at the long, narrow bar of the Blue Coyote.
Smiling at the bartender, Heyes held up three fingers and said, “Whiskey.” The barkeep studied the three men as he set up the three glasses and poured their drinks. Heyes had turned his back and was watching the poker game. Looking back at the bartender, he commented, “Heard you had a real gambler in here playing earlier,” Heyes commented, trying to sound casual.
The slight man grew pale and backed up against the liquor display shelf. “He was just riding through, but it was Smiling Sonny Ford. He’s got a reputation. I didn’t want to rile him, but I sent the boy for the sheriff.” The bartender’s voice trembled as he spoke in a soft whisper, “By the time he got here, Ford was leaving.”
“He win big?” asked Heyes.
“No, another man did. Small blonde stranger, bad teeth, missed the spittoon when he spit. He left with Ford, though. They seemed mighty friendly and very drunk.”
A chill ran down Heyes’ spine. He knew of Smiling Sonny Ford, a card shark, a card cheat, a bounty hunter and a con man; a con man that left his mark broke and beaten or dead. “Do you know where they went?”
“Nah, don’t even know which way they turned out the door. I was just happy Ford left.” He started to wipe the glass rings off the bar.
Heyes, Curry, and Wheat turned to leave with a new purpose.
“Wait!” the barkeep called them back. “Don’t know where they went but I overheard the stranger say something like, “That seems like a fair price for a bird that can fly backwards.”
Incredulous, Wheat repeated, “A bird that can fly backwards?”
Leaving the saloon, Heyes mumbled to himself and anyone close enough to hear, “Where exactly might one keep a bird that can fly backwards?”
Stopping on the boardwalk, the three men tried to look at the small town with different eyes.
“His hotel room?” asked Wheat.
“Maybe, find Hank and ask at both the hotels if anyone staying there has a bird. In fact, ask at the boarding house, too,” instructed Heyes, as he watched Wheat hurry away.
“Where else?” he asked Curry.
Curry smiled. “Remember that mark we hit with Soapy? The one who kept homing pigeons on the roof?”
“That’s what I was thinking.” Heyes squinted up to see the nearby roofs. All he saw was wooden trim blocking his view.
Realizing he was alone on the street, Heyes saw Curry climbing a ladder to the saloon rooftop. Following his partner, Heyes watched him scanning roofs with care.
“There!” Curry whispered, pointing to a roof across the street and down the block. “There’s someone on that roof.”
Knowing that Curry’s eyes were sharper at a distance, Heyes ran back to the ladder. “Let’s go!”
Seeing a ladder attached to the outside of the building, Curry climbed trying to be silent. Heyes had pointed silently that he was going to try and find roof access within the building, a leather shop about to close for the day.
Hearing Kyle before seeing him, Curry stayed low as he stepped onto the roof in back of the two men he found there.
“Just looks like a regular pigeon to me,” Kyle was saying. “They were all over the courthouse back home.”
“Ah but he can fly backwards!” the other man said.
“Thanks for offering but I think you can keep your bird and I want my three thousand dollars back.” Kyle decided, trying to hand the pigeon back to the man.
“I don’t think so. We had a deal,” Smiling Sonny Ford answered.
Curry stepped forward. “Give the man his money back,” he told Ford while assuming his gunfighter’s stance.
Ford turned and saw the cold blue steel determination in Curry’s eyes. He paid it no heed as he was confident no baby-faced outlaw could outdraw him. Smiling, he faced Curry and held his right hand in anticipation over his gun.
Patiently, Curry stared back at him. “Don’t want no bloodshed; just give the man back his money and take your bird.”
“Ain’t gonna happen, boy, so just be on your way and let us finish our transaction.”
Saying nothing, Curry shook his head, watching his opponent’s eyes rather than his gun hand.
Ford went for his gun. Curry’s gun was in his hand faster, and he shot Ford in the forearm before he finished his draw. Ford’s gun dropped to the roof unfired.
“Kid, glad to see you.” Kyle attempted to walk but drunkenly staggered over to Curry as Heyes opened the inside door to the roof.
With a sigh of relief that the Kid and Kyle were okay, Heyes took charge. “Kyle, you give this man your money?”
“Yeah, but I told him I wanted it back and he could keep his bird.”
Heyes drew his gun and walked over to the bleeding man. “Where’s the money?”
“In my shirt pocket,” the man said through grimaced teeth.
Heyes pushed open the man’s coat and reached into his shirt pocket. He took the money there and returned a twenty to the pocket. “You’re gonna need money for a doctor for that arm.”
Ford said nothing. Kyle attempted to hand him the pigeon, but he batted it away with his left hand. Watching the bird fly away, Kyle said, “Just flies straight ahead like every other bird I seen.”
ASJ*****ASJ*****ASJ*****ASJ*****ASJ
“You mean that man Ford was cheatin’ at the poker game makin’ ME win?” Kyle asked incredulously as they rode back to Devil’s Hole.
“Yes, Kyle, it’s an old con. Set up someone else to win big and then steal the money from them later.”
“Should have known I couldn’t be that lucky, but he kept smiling and smiling at me like he was my friend.”
“One can smile and smile but still be a villain. I heard that in a play once,” Heyes told him.
“Well, it sure was true.” Kyle pondered out loud, “If you can’t trust someone who’s smilin’ at you, who can you trust?”
None of the gang members answered. Kyle suddenly sat up straight and smiled widely. “I know. I trust you all, the Devil’s Hole Gang led by Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry”. And once again all felt right in Kyle’s world.
Thu Jun 30, 2022 9:46 am
I'm feeling rusty and a bit hesitant, but a smiling villain coerced me into writing a challenge this month, short as it might be.