TEMPERANCE
TEMPERANCE
A thump on the wall outside
the room as someone went past brought Jimmy back to life with startling swiftness.
His eyes flashed open and he stared at the wall for a moment before turning
over in bed to see Temperance still lying there, slumbering
soundly. He smiled for a moment as he saw how innocent she looked when she was
asleep and he brushed with his thumb at the streak of eye make-up which had
made its way across her cheek. But there wasn’t time to lie there any longer
- light was pouring in through the window and he could tell it was well past
dawn.
He sat up on the bed
and felt a tremendous thumping sensation in his head. Holding on to the mattress
for a moment, he waited for the room to stop spinning. He really had had too
much to drink last night. A long, low groan escaped from his throat. Seeing
that gettin up out of bed was too big a task to take on just yet, Jimmy decided
to do his second one instead.
“Temp-” a fresh wave of pain swept through his head. “Temperance,” he whispered, lowering his voice in the interest of less pain. “Wake up.”
“Quit shouting at me, Hickok,” Temperance rasped, opening one eye and glaring at him. “Go back to sleep.”
“I can’t. It’s eight o’clock, Temperance,” he told her, looking at the watch which was attatched to the vest he was still wearing.
“So?”
“I was supposed to meet Kid before dawn.”
“Oooh.” Temperance managed a low laugh. “You’re in trouble.”
Jimmy shook his head. She had an incredible ability to make fun of his misfortune. “Listen, Temperance. I was thinking; maybe you should come with me.”
“Me? I don’t reckon I’m gonna be able to stop that friend of yours from letting you have it, Jimmy. You’re gonna have to take it like a man.” Temperance hadn’t even lifted her head from the pillow, and she’d shut both her eyes again.
“No. I mean come back to Rock Creek with me.”
That made her eyes open. In fact, she even managed to sit up on the bed and fix Jimmy with a questioning stare. “Rock Creek? Why?”
“You were leaving Yellow River today anyway, weren’t you? Well, why not go to Rock Creek next? You wouldn’t have to pay for a hotel and you could stay for a while...” he could see that she wasn’t convinced.
“I don’t know, Jimmy,” she said quietly.
Jimmy’s shoulders sank. “I was just thinkin’ that you might wanna come. You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I just like havin’ you around, is all.”
Temperance smiled. “I wouldn’t want to be in the way. Your friend doesn’t like me.”
“Kid doesn’t *know* you, Temperance.”
“I ain’t exactly the model citizen, Hickok.”
A grin grew on Jimmy’s face as he thought of the other riders back at the way station. “I don’t reckon you’d stick out too much,” he assured her.
Sitting on the bed and
looking back at Jimmy, Temperance weighed up her options. It was true that she’d
have to leave Yellow River today - after playing the tables as she and Jimmy
had last night, there was no point going back for a second night. She’d
been planning on hopping on the stage with her winnings and seeing where she
ended up, but now Jimmy had thrown her for a loop. She’d enjoyed herself
last night and it was nice to have a friend. To tell the truth, she had become
very fond of Jimmy
Hickok. It wasn’t anything beyond that - they were too alike for that and
they both knew it - but there was a definite fondness between them after their
escapade last night. But there was more to consider than that. It wasn’t
just Jimmy she’d have to deal with if she went to Rock Creek, it would
be all of the people who worked at the way station. She’d learned a fair
bit about them in between saloons last night and although they seemed nice enough,
it had been a long time since she’d been around a family.
“Well?” Jimmy asked, his eyes reflecting his hope that she’d take him up on his offer.
Before she knew it, Temperance found her mouth racing along faster than her brain. “All right. If you’re sure they wouldn’t mind.”
“No, they’d love to meet you,” Jimmy cried, obviously pleased with himself.
“I guess we’d better get goin’, then,” she suggested.
Jimmy nodded and suddenly remembered his headache. “Oh Lord,” he muttered, holding his head with his hand.
“I know *just* what you mean,” Temperance said with a mournful chuckle. But it was a chuckle that turned into a hearty belly laugh when she saw Jimmy attempt to get up off the bed, get his foot stuck in the covers and tumble over onto the floor.
“Are you all right, Hickok?” she gasped as she crawled over to Jimmy’s side of the bed and looked down at where he lay sprawled out on the floor.
“Fine,” Jimmy groaned. “Just fine. And you can wipe that smile off your face or I’ll do it for ya!”
Kid paced up and down the hotel foyer as he had been doing for the last hour and thought up a hundred choice words he’d like to say Jimmy Hickok just then.
When he’d first
made his way down to the livery just before dawn and found that Jimmy was nowhere
to be seen, he’d been ready to beat the livingdaylights out of him. *He’d*
been the one who wanted to hurry home, after all. But that was
before this girl, this Temperance Hather-something, had sauntered her way into
the picture. It was typical of Jimmy - all it took was a pretty girl and he
was off in his own little dream world!
But Kid’s anger
hadn’t lasted more than half an hour before he’d started to worry.
What if he’d been right? What if the girl *had* been trouble and Jimmy
had gotten himself into something he shouldn’t have? With those thoughts
in mind, Kid had made
straight for the Marshal’s office, half expecting to see Jimmy in one of
the cells when he got there. And once the marshal had assured him that last
night had been quiet and that he didn’t know of any trouble regarding a
young man and woman like Kid described, Kid had taken a walk around the town,
just to see if he could notice anything out of the ordinary.
He’d found nothing on his little journey and by the time he’d made his way back to the hotel, he’d been about ready to string Jimmy up again. For a moment he’d thought about getting on his horse and riding off back to Rock Creek on his own. But he knew he couldn’t do it. Sure, the chances were that Jimmy was just late forsome reason that he’d be desparate to explain when he finally got there, but Kid wasn’t about to run out on his friend when there was still the chance he was in some kind of trouble.
It was after another hour had ticked by and people were beginning to make their way back out onto the streets, that Kid decided to take another walk through the town. It was more an effort to pass sometime than to look for Jimmy, but when an old man sitting on a porch halfway up the street called out to him, Kid quickly realised his luck had changed.
“You lost somethin’, son?” the old man’s voice crackled.
Kid looked up quickly to see who was talking to him. “Yeah, as it happens. I-”
“You’re gonna have to speak up, son,” the old man called. “The old ears ain’t what they used to be.”
Grinning in appreciation, Kid walked over to where he sat. “I was just sayin’ that I’ve been waitin’ for my friend. He was s’posed to meet me about three hours ago.”
“Young fella? Long hair, fancy dresser?”
“Yeah, that sounds like him,” Kid agreed, thinking of Jimmy’s attire when they’d talked last night. “You seen him around this mornin’?”
“Not this mornin’ I ain’t. But he was headed over to the Patterson hotel with that young thing of his last night.”
Kid groaned inwardly. He should have known. “The Patterson hotel?” he queried.
“Yep, straight down that a ways,” the old man pointed out.
Kid looked down the street to where the man was pointing and then nodded his thanks. “You’ve been a big help,” he assured him, before making his way down the street.
Inside the hotel, Kid walked straight up to the desk and coughed a little to get the attention of the man working there.
“Do you have a woman
staying here by the name of Temperance Hath-” he stopped for
a moment and searched his mind. “Hatherfield? Hathersmith? Somethin’
like that, anyway.”
The man behind the desk gave him a shrewd look and for a moment Kid thought he wasn’t going to tell him. But then he looked down at the open book in front of him. “Miss Temperance Hathaway. Room 21.”
“Thanks,” Kid called over his shoulder before making his way up the stairs.
Reaching the landing, Kid scanned down the row of doors. 11, 13, 15 - Before his eyes reached door 21, there was a noise further down the hallway, and a young woman stepped out onto the dingy carpet.
“Hurry up, Hickok. You were the one said we had to get out of here.”
“I know, just gimme a minute.”
“I’m closing the door.”
“Alright, alright.”
Jimmy stumbled out into the hallway with one boot still in his hand. “He’s gonna kill me. He’s really gonna kill me.”
Temperance closed the door as Jimmy leaned against the wall to tug his boot onto his foot. As he muttered away about how much trouble he was going to be in when Kid got his hands on him, Temperance looked down the hall and saw a figure standing by the top of the stairs.
“You might be in trouble sooner than you think, Hickok,” she murmured, nodding towards the stairs and not bothering to hide the smile on her face.
Jimmy looked in the direction she indicated and saw Kid walking towards them. “Aw, hell,” he whispered before tugging the boot of the rest of the way and walking over to meet Kid.
“Kid, I’m sorry. I meant to be there; I just overslept is all.”
Kid looked back at him with an expression of annoyance and exasperation. “You look like hell,” he said bluntly.
“Yeah, well,” Jimmy began, hanging his head a little. “We, er...yeah. I guess I do.”
Kid shook his head and began to walk back towards the stairs. “Let’s just go, alright? I got your things from the hotel already.”
“Thing is, Kid,” Jimmy broke out. “Temperance - you remember Temperance, right? Well, she’s gonna ride back to Rock Creek with us.”
Stopping in his tracks Kid looked back to where Temperance stood behind Jimmy.
She threw him a quick smile and a wave. “Oh.” It was all he could think of to say. He briefly wondered what on earth Jimmy was thinking.
“She was heading out of Yellow River today anyway, so I suggested she come along,” Jimmy explained.
“Swell,” Kid said, stepping to one side so that Jimmy could walk past. “The more the merrier. Let’s just go, all right? We’re late enough as it is.”
Jimmy grinned and slapped his friend on the shoulder as he walked towards the stairs, still doing up the buttons of his shirt as he went. “Thanks, Kid.”
Kid looked over at Temperance who still stood by the door of her room, looking on a little warily. “Can I help you with your bag?” he offered, stepping over to take a hold of the battered old bag which lay at her feet.
But she moved faster than he did and it was in her hand before Kid could get a hold of it. “Thanks. I got it,” she assured him. Then her face broke into a cheeky smile.
“Y’know, I reckon you and me are gonna be good friends, Kid. I feel like I know you already. After all, once you’ve seen a fella in his underwear there ain’t a whole lot left to learn ‘bout him, is there?”
Lifting her bag, Temperance walked past Kid, stopping once she was a few yards along the hall to look back over her shoulder. “Guess I’d better return the favour sometime,” she murmured seductively. And, with a wink and a flash of the eye, she was walking off towards the stairs and then down towards the lobby, with a sensual sway of the hips that Jimmy would have identified as belonging to his first poker partner last night, Mrs Annabella Hodson.
“Oh, this is good,” Kid muttered sarcastically, as he stood on his own in the hallway. “This is *real* good.”
Then, with a deep sigh, he made his own way down the stairs.