The two men swayed and staggered out the door and turned almost bodily straight into Mary Travis.
Buck clamped his hand over Vin's mouth, but not before he could let go yet another string of expletives regarding Chris Larabee. Mary turned a bright shade of pink, nodded and hurried past them, as Vin reiterated, yet again,
"I gotta piss."
"Yeah, Vin, I know!" Buck pulled him down a darkened alley and supported him with one hand while Vin fumbled with his pants. Buck pushed his head forward til it rested on the wall of the building in front of him, giving him a little more support. Vin was just finished relieving himself when they heard shouts from down the street, near the church.
"I got it!"
Vin and Buck made their way towards the shout, and as they got closer, could just make out the silouette of JD, standing on the peaked roof, Chris's hat held proudly over his head.
"Leave it be!" Vin growled. "Let'im get up there his ownself."
Chris came riding up the road, head turned upward with them. Vin lurched away from Buck, staggering towards Chris on his black, fixing him with a glare.
Chris turned away from JD and regarded Vin. He turned to Buck.
"You got him drunk again?"
"Yep. Wasn't hard."
Chris dismounted, ignoring Vin's narrow eyed stare. "Why is JD on the church roof?"
"He's getting your hat."
Just as Buck spoke, JD slipped and slid spectacularly across the shingles, down the eave and sailed through the air to land with a thud and lay silent.
Vin looked on in awe as Buck and Chris hurried to check the boy out. "He flies!"
JD groaned, holding his arm, hat still in hand. Chris shook his head and took it from him. "I'll get Nathan." Buck nodded.
"Just lay still, Kid, Chris is going to get Nathan."
JD nodded, eyes clenched shut to ride out the pain. "Think I broke my arm."
"More likely your shoulder, or mebbe collarbone." He turned to Vin, standing over the both of them. "Just sit down, Vin, I'll help you when Nathan gets here." Vin nodded sadly.
"Sorry 'bout all this, JD. You shouldn'ta gone up there. It's kinda shlipperier than a body'd think, ain't it?"
"Yep," he answered through clenched teeth.
Later, Chris slumped in a chair across the room from where Vin lay on the floor, on a bed made of several blankets. Chris was dozing fitfully when a soft knock interrupted his rest, followed by Buck slipping quietly into the room. He looked questioningly at Vin on the floor before stretching out on Chris's unoccupied bed.
"He kept falling outta the bed," in response to the unasked question. Buck nodded and smiled.
"That boy's a handful, ain't he?"
"Which one, him or JD?"
"Both. JD's all right, 'cept for a dislocated shoulder and a mess 'a slivers. Vin's right, though, the boy can fly!"
The two men chuckled softly and fell into a comfortable silence.
"I can watch him now, Chris."
Chris nodded silently without moving.
"I pissed him off, riding back from Eagle Bend." Chris offered softly.
"Yeah, pard, we all kinda figured that out. He didn't say why, though."
"Hell if I know. We were talking about that damn dog. He says he figgers she cheated me out of my five hundred dollars and wanted to know what I had planned for the money. I says I ain't gonna be collecting no money on his carcass and he gets all pissed off about it. Says I have to and—"
"And you says you don't have to do nuthin.'"
Chris raised his eyes away from the lantern he'd been staring into, recounting the conversation. He levelled his gaze at his old friend. "I don't get it, Buck."
Buck shrugged. "What's to get?"
"He's pissed off cause if he gets himself killed, I says I'll bury him somewhere, maybe the old farmstead, maybe up in the hills. That ain't good enough, he wants me to haul his body back to Texas and collect the bounty." Chris leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "He wants me to take his body back for the money."
Buck shook his head. "No, he don't. Not for the money."
"For what then?"
"I reckon he's spent most his life hiding from something, tryin' real hard to be invisible. I s'pose knowin' your face is on a poster tacked up all over Texas'd be kinda hard to take, don't you? You bury him, them poster's are still gonna be up there. You turn in his body, it ends. The hunt's over. He's invisible again."
Chris rocked back and sighed. "Shit."
"It's just a guess."
"Pretty good guess, I reckon. What makes you so smart?"
"I spent some time with the boy when he's been drunk. And with you. I reckon you are two of the most bullheaded, sonofabitchin sorryass excuses for drunks there's ever been. Neither one of you can keep your mouth shut when you're drunk. And both of you need babysitters when you are. I reckon it's a fair trade."
"For what?"
"Makin' sure you're alive when you wake up."
Chris nodded and smiled. "Thanks, pard."
"Anytime."
Buck settled in to take first watch.
Vin turned on his side and slivered one eye open. Chris sat in the chair near the window, feet propped on the ledge, looking down onto the street below.
"Best not puke on my blankets." Chris spoke without looking 'round at Vin.
Vin's eye's travelled the room, taking in where he was and recollecting the past evening. He drew his legs up under him and sat up slowly in silence. He rubbed his hands over his eyes and noticed Buck, sleeping on the bed.
"How come he gets the bed?"
"He didn't steal nobody's hat."
Vin nodded as Buck awoke. "Hey pard, ready for breakfast?"
Vin groaned.
"I think maybe Mary'd fix us something." Buck shook his head sadly. "Oh, well, mebbe not."
Vin suddenly went ashen. Then green. Then, slowly, he turned a startling shade of red.
Buck could see the realization setting in.
"Yep, pard, she was there, when you was describing Chris, here. Colorful, too. Didn't your mamma ever tell you not to use language like that around a lady?"
"Hell, I didn't know language like that when my mamma was alive."
Buck shook his head. "Too bad you ever learned it, son. Cause now you're gonna have to face Mrs Travis. It ain't gonna be a pretty thing, neither."
Vin groaned and lay back on the floor, covering his face. "Just shoot me now."
Chris looked from Vin to Buck and back again.
"Did I miss something?"
the end
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