The morning sun was beaming, the birds were chirping and a fire was lit in a forest, accompanied by the sounds of a pot and a can of beans being stirred around the metal with a wooden spoon. The person cooking this breakfast was Nathaniel Smith, who had just woken up to continue with his daily routine, as he already took a quick bath by the river and he decided to make breakfast for himself and his comrades, comrades that would most likely go towards the smell as soon as they sniffed it.
The gang had just recently escaped from the law once more, as they got away with a stagecoach heist, one that was filled with people from the high society and were currently moving to another location to keep their money safe. Quite the irony isn’t it?
Regardless, Nathaniel’s food was good and ready to go. He poured the contents of the pot into a plate and was about to dig it, his first spoonful was interrupted however by the sounds of someone approaching. One of his gang members had arrived, taking a seat alongside the cowboy. “Hey Nathan, mind if I get a plate?”
“Sure Jim. Suit yourself, but remember to leave some for the others.” Nathaniel said as he ate his first bite, humming from the satisfying taste. Jim grabbed a plate and served himself, turning to the blue bandit. The man himself was brown colored sporting a full black beard, using a white but yellowish tinted shirt, a red bandana tied and placed on his hat, a black unbuttoned vest, a bit worn off dark red pants and a cream colored cowboy hat.
“Sooo, what do you think of the hideout we found here? Do you like it so far?”
“Yeah, it’s not a bad spot, the cave’s not too shabby and it ain’t too far away from town, we honestly got pretty lucky with findin’ it. Gregory’s got a good sense of exploration.” Nathaniel replied, turning his head around to see his other comrades come towards the fire and grab a bite.
“Hey y’all, good mornin’.” Nathaniel greeted with a wave as the group took their seats and served themselves a plate.
“Would ya look at that, somebody’s in a good mood.” A member mentioned as he ate, munching way louder than the others.
“Henry, do you have to be munchin’ that fuckin’ loud?” The jet black cowboy remarked. Henry himself seemed to be a bit more robust than the others, but not by much. He was currently wearing an orange checker shirt, black bandana, brown cowboy hat, black dress shoes and brighter denim blue for his jeans.
“Look, I didn’t want to tell y’all, but I was extremely fuckin’ hungry and I didn’t want to wake any of you with either with me makin’ food before breakfast or havin’ somebody make it ‘cause I asked.”
“That ain’t the problem Henry, the problem’s that you just are way too loud, every single time we wanna eat your devouring gets ingrained into our mind and we end up hearing it while we sleep even though you already finished hours ago.” Another member added, who was wearing a green, fully buttoned shirt, a yellow colored bandana that was tied on the front and with the triangle part of it resting on his back, a brown vest, a darker shade of green for his pants, black shoes, brown leather gloves and square framed glasses to help with his vision.
“Gregory’s right. I don’t even get that hasty when I wanna eat. Just dial it down a bit all right?” Nathaniel reaffirmed, being given risen eyebrows by the other members. “What?”
“Says the guy who yells his lungs out sayin’: THIS IS A ROBBERY, PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR OR THERE’LL BE TROUBLE.” Henry added.
“Hey! You gotta look intimidatin’ and aggressive to actually make people scared of ya! How are ya gonna do that otherwise?” Smith defensively shrugged.
“By havin’ things under control Nathan.” Was heard from someone coming out of the cave and finally reaching the group.
“B-BOSS!” Everybody said in unison, watching the middle aged figure take a seat right beside Nathaniel.
“Nathan, the key to bein’ a true treat is not how loud you can yell or how scary you can look, what matters the most is makin’ sure that your opponent knows what can happen if they mess with you in a more subtle way. If you don’t feel the need to start a fight and are at peace, they’re gonna know you’re confident. When they try to do somethin’ to ya, you don’t have to respond immediately, you can take your time and let them make a mistake first.”
“But then what about when you try to make the move first? Sometimes you don’t got time to wait, what happens then boss?” Smith insisted, with his superior giving him a swift reply.
“You just do it. No flare, no nothin’. That’s somethin’ I hope every single one of you can understand. There’s no point in boastin’ about you bein’ the best or scariest person in the whole wide west if you can’t hold those claims. It’s gonna be pretty improbable that you ever will. There’s way too many people out there, people that could be better than you in every aspect or people that know how to deal with folk like us without even havin’ to fight.”
“And what if I try to run away from just confrontin’ people? Ain’t that the smartest thing we can do?” Nathaniel asked.
“There’s a difference Nathan. If you leave your partner’s behind or somebody that helped you out when you had the chance to save them or at least give them a better chance to survive, that makes ya a coward. If you know there’s nothing else that you could’ve done to help and run away, that’s smart. If you know all of that beforehand and you still try to help them out… that doesn’t make you smart, that makes you stupid.”
“Does that mean that you wouldn’t save any one of us boss?” Henry voiced, deflated and somewhat afraid of the answer he would get, with the other gang members having the same expression in their eyes.
“…” The middle aged man remained silent for quite some time, with the crew looking at each other for any reactions. “Look boys, there might be a time where I won’t be able to help you if you ever find yourself in trouble, that’s why you need to do the best that you can to not end up in those situations. Y’all are important to me and I wouldn’t want to have to take that kind of decision at all. It’s somethin’ that I thought of before but… if it could be helped that we never have to tackle that scenario, it would be appreciated.”
“I… see…” Gregory said, giving the man a glint and leaving the circle.
“We’ll do our best boss. You’ll see that we won’t end up like that, we promise, ain’t that right Nathan?” Jim reassured while giving Nathaniel a shove with his elbow.
“Ow! Y-yeah! We’re the best at what we do, that’s why they call us the Smithy gang!”
“Son, we’ve talked about this before. You shouldn’t be givin’ us a name, much less a name that purely focuses on you. Nobody has called us that before and I doubt any feller’s will do.”
“You ain’t no fun boss.” Nathaniel frowned, while Jim smiled and snickered at the interaction. “Either way, I think it’s time for me to start headin’ to town and get our supplies. We have to get familiar with the people we’re dealin’ with to get our big plan movin’.” The blue bandit then got up from the floor and directed himself towards his horse.
“Be careful Nathaniel. Don’t you do somethin’ stupid and put a target on our heads boy.”
“Boss come on, I’ve been doin’ this two years now. Ever since y’all gave me the chance to be a fully integrated member when I was eighteen, I really don’t have any desire to disappoint and that will not change. I’ll be careful, I promise.” He gave a confident smirk before hopping onto his horse. “Be right back.” Then, he took off, leaving Jim and their boss looking on.
“Y’know, that boy worries me sometimes… just ‘cause he got that special ability on his fingers he thinks he’s the best thing ever.”
“Yeah… he needs to be humbled down, but I’m sure he’ll understand later on.” Jim agreed with a hopeful beam.
“I sure hope it’s sooner than later. Otherwise it could cause a lot of trouble.” The middle aged man huffed and then walked out towards the cave, with the Mexican bandit coming along.
In the meanwhile with the cowboy, he was going at a slow pace, making sure nobody was following him around, as well as just taking in the air of fresh air. “Well, ain’t this nice. I don’t see a single soul ‘round and the weather’s pretty good. It’s prolly what I needed after that whole conversation. The boss does care, but it seems to be a tough topic to just randomly bring up. I wouldn’t blame him if he gave up on one of us if it meant he could save the other ones.” He stared at his hand, thinking of what he just said. “Includin’ me…”
Suddenly, he heard some sobs coming from a nearby tree. He didn’t quite know what to think of them just yet. They could be from someone genuinely being hurt or in distress. Perhaps it could be a trap setup by a bounty hunter, bandit or officer that wants to capture/kill him. With a steady pace, he began to come closer to the sound with his horse, then mounting down once he was close enough to the area.
He got his hand to his gun pocket and pulled out his pistol, taking careful and firm steps, leaning to his left side in order to spot who was making those noises. His attitude changed however; as he was able to see that the person crying was a child, a seven year old nonetheless.
The cowboy’s stern and serious look dissipated and transformed into a frown. The situation was hitting a little too close home. “Hey… kid, what’re ya doin’ here?” He asked the toddler who just turned around, still tearing up and with his nose flowing.
“I was chasin’ a squirrel and then I got lost and now I don’t know where I am or how to go back… I just want to go home!”
“What ‘bout your dad and mom? Do they know where ya went?” Nathaniel watched with his head left and right, trying to find the child’s parents or anybody that would be around to help him out.
“No! They don’t know where I am. They‘re most likely searching for me but… but… I don’t know if they’ll be able to find me!” The child lamented, crying once more and sinking his head onto his knees.
After seeing this, the blue bandit took a decision. “Then let me do ya a small favor kid. I’ll take you to the nearest town and see if your parents are there, or at least have someone look for you in there until they come back.” He said while knitting his brows.
“R-really sir…? Would you do that for me…?” The boy took his head out of his knees and stared at Nathaniel, who gave him a comforting smile and messed with his hair in a playful manner.
“Sure, anythin’ to help ya out. No kid should be all alone in the forest and miss their parents.” He then proceeded to help the seven year old get up from the grass and onto his horse. Afterwards Nathaniel hopped on and traveled throughout the forest with a good pace. He wanted to help the child find his parents, but he didn’t want to spend that much time with him, as he had to get the supplies for his gang members. The silence between the child and the cowboy didn’t last long however.
“Sir, can I ask you something?”
“What is it kid?” Nathaniel responded curiously.
“What were you doing in the forest? Are you coming from outside? Or were you taking a trip?”
“Well… I was… checkin’ out the area for some food, as I was hopin’ I didn’t have to spend money on buyin’ supplies. No luck, so I guess the trip over there will kill two birds in one stone. I’ll be helpin’ ya out and I’ll also end up getting’ my food, water and other things.”
“I see, and what is your work? Farmer? Cowboy? Bounty hunter?”
“Hey, hey, I think you’re goin’ too fast there pardner. You don’t need to know what my work is now do ya?” The cowboy tried to deflect.
As the duo kept going along, they were able to see a creek flowing with crystal clear water, being a perfect spot to take a break, as they had been going for what seemed to be an hour.
“Sir, can we stop for a moment? I want to get some water. Maybe you can get a drink from here too. You’ve been helpin’ me so far and I feel you deserve to take some rest.”
“Hmm…” Nathaniel thought about the proposition. He was sure that the town wouldn’t be too far off from here, so if he kept going they would be able to reach it in thirty minutes or less, but the kid seemed to be already tired from his journey before meeting with Nathaniel.
“Okay. We can get down and get some water.”
The youngster and the child came closer to the creek, with the child using his hand to scoop some water and take a sip.
“Aaahh… Much better.” Said the kid with a sigh of relief, while Nathaniel also taking a sip of the water.
“Yeah, this is good stuff. You do gotta remember though: Do not take water from creeks that ain’t movin’. The water will be more likely to have a ton of bad stuff for your body and you might end up…”
“Dying?”
“Yeah. Dyin’. Got it?” Nathaniel then turned his head to face the child, who responded with a nod.
“Yeah, I got it mister.”
“Good boy.” The blue bandit then ruffled the kid’s hair playfully, thinking that maybe it would be better for him to know his name. “Say, what was your name again kid?”
“My name’s Thomas sir. Thomas Wilson, but you can call me Tom.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet ya, Tom.” Nathaniel smiled at Thomas, then the kid proceeded to ask the same.
“And what’s your name sir?”
“My name…? Well…” The outlaw hesitated at first, placing his hands over his hips and giving out a quick sigh. “The name’s Clark. Clark White, kid.” He smiled confidently, although still unsure if that’s a good enough name for it to pass as real.
“That’s a neat name! I’m pleased to meet you sir!” Tom grinned, with Nathaniel giving him a tender smirk.
“Well then, I think that’s enough chit chat for now. Let’s go to the town, all right?”
“Alright.” Said the child, hopping onto Nathaniel’s horse and the bandit went to it too, riding to the town.
As the duo kept strolling around, they got some faces of the town to look at them, some with a completely normal expression, others with a raised eyebrow, as if they knew the kid but not the man, confused as to why the two of them were in the same horse.
Nevertheless, Nathaniel continued on until he spotted a general store, thinking that maybe the store clerk could know some info about the kid. He hitched his horse and helped Tom to get down.
The moment he entered the shop, he was greeted by the kind and elderly clerk. “Hello! Welcome to my store, how may I be able to assist you today?” He finished with a cordial smile.
“Oh… Hello pardner.” Nathaniel scoffed for a moment, responding to his smile with one of his own. He really wasn’t expecting that type of enthusiasm and warmness from the salesperson.
“Jeff!” Tom greeted, coming running to the man, who just stepped outside his stop, hunched over and received the child with a hug.
“Tom! What are you doin’ here? I thought you were with your daddy and mommy.”
“Well… I ended up chasin’ a squirrel and I got lost in the woods… I was so scared, but mister over here was able to help me get back.” Tom beamed, looking back at Nathaniel, who just waved him off with modesty.
“It was no problem kid. Only wanted to help.”
“Why, thank you young man. Now we have our good boy Tom back and without a single scratch. How could I possibly be able to repay you?”
“Well…” Nathaniel smiled slyly, and then decided to ask for as many things as he could before it would be considered to be way too abusive. He went back to his horse and placed each item into his saddlebags, making sure that they were safe and sound. Afterwards, he hopped onto his steed, ready to depart and go back to his gang.
Before he could do so however, Tom came back once more. “Sir!” He called to the blue bandit while carrying a small box.
“What is it kid?” He asked softly while looking down to the boy, who was now right beside him.
“It’s a gift! I… Kinda wanted to give it to you before you left, since you helped me out so much today.”
Nathaniel leaned closer to the boy and inspected the gift. He discovered that the gift was a box of chocolates neatly wrapped into their own little paper.
“Is that… candy kid?” The cowboy smiled pleasantly and loomed his hand over the chocolates, grabbing one of them, unwrapping it and eating it.
“Yup! I asked Mr.Jeff if he could give me one of these and he agreed, since you saved me from bein’ lost in the forest and what not. What do you think? Are they tasty?”
“They are amazin’ Tom…” Nathaniel closed his eyes in bliss.
“Hehe, happy you like them mister! I hope you’re able to have a safe trip back home. It was a pleasure to meet you.” The boy smiled, with Nathaniel corresponding him with the same expression.
“Thank you kid. This… really means a lot. Not that many people end up givin’ me gifts like this.” He huffed with his eyes narrowing, looking down to the ground and then he took his attention back to the child. “See ya and take care.”
After giving Tom a wave, he began to go back to his gang’s hideout spot, making it in the middle of the afternoon. He saw Henry reading a newspaper while laying on his bed, Jim stroking his horse’s hair and Gregory staring into the fire.
“Hey there fellas.” Nathaniel greeted, hoping off his horse and leading it towards the hitching pole.
“Hi Nathan.” Henry raised his hand without taking his eyes away from the paper.
“How are ya Nathan? Did you get our supplies?” Jim stopped his own activity, walking closer to Nathaniel, who just pulled out the various cans, supplies and other things that he could get a hold off on satchels alone.
“Yup, in fact y’all should thank me. I ended up gettin’ these practically for free!”
“Really? And how did that happen? Did you end up stealing them from the shopkeeper?” Gregory lifted his head, staring at Nathaniel with animosity.
“Hey, just ‘cause we’re bandits that don’t mean that I’m gonna be stealin’ every single time we encounter a store. I was able to convince him with my talkin’ skills, no gun needed, no nothin’. I’m just that good.” He closed his eyes and reeled on his back in a cocky display.
“And why did it take ya so long? You don’t tend to take that much with getting supplies.” Gregory insisted.
“Greg, does it even matter man? He got us the stuff and he didn’t even need to spend a penny. He prolly took that long ‘cause he was talkin’ with the store guy. It would’ve taken me way less time though.” Henry scoffed as he kept reading his paper, now with Nathaniel giving him a snarky glare.
“Oh really now? Then how ‘bout you go and get our shit next time we move out of town?”
“I will, then y’all are gonna see an expert work. I’m gonna be takin’ supply duty in no time!” He took down his paper, smiling at the blue bandit.
Jim scoffed at the two men’s squabble. “You two are always at each other’s throat. Give it a break and let’s play some poker or something.” Jim suggested while approaching a nearby circular table, padding the nearby seat for Nathaniel to join.
“Eh, why not?” Smith replied with a nonchalant shrug, taking a seat and patting the one right next beside him with a smug grin while staring at Gregory and Henry.
“Okay, okay. I’ll join in a bit; just let me finish my paper here.” Henry waved, still focused on his paper while Gregory stood up and went to sit near the table.
“Look, we’ve done this before Nathan… I’ve beat you so many times I can’t even remember on top of my head, are you sure you want to challenge me again?”
“Of course! Why wouldn’t I? I have to clean up my name. How am I gonna be the greatest bandit of all time if I can’t win every single poker game?” Nathaniel slammed his arm on the table, smirking at his nerdy comrade.
“Still with that confidence of yours. Very well, I’m going to bring you down a few pegs.” Gregory responded, now with the trio sitting at the table and spending the rest of the afternoon playing poker, with mixed results for the blue bandit. He won quite a few games at the beginning of the session, but once Henry joined in, his winning streak went down fairly quickly, ending in a 14-15 score.
The following morning, Nathaniel and Henry went to a nearby lake with fishing rods ready, casting their bait into the water, sitting on the ground and waiting for any movement to be made.
“So… did ya actually get the stuff without stealin’?” Henry inquired, turning his head to face Nathaniel’s.
“Hey, I already told y’all, I’ve got this stuff fair and square. B’sides, I don’t have a reason to lie. If I stole it, I would’ve bragged ‘bout it day and night yesterday.” Nathaniel shrugged, switching his attention to his pole.
“I dunno…” Henry sighed before continuing. “It just seemed odd, kinda somethin’ that wouldn’t happen with ya ‘round, that’s all.” The slightly chubby man finished, supporting his chin with his hand.
“What’s that s’pposed to mean? That I can’t be smart with deals or getting’ myself into a better situation without stealin’?” Smith’s brows crooked, feeling insulted by the comment.
“No, no, it ain’t that. Just that sometimes you don’t have the best of lucks and stuff doesn’t quite work out like how you want it to, like what happened yesterday in poker.”
“Hey, he was cheatin’! I know that he was!”
“Nathan, he’s got a better poker face ya and you know it. That’s why he’s always able to win against you.” Henry’s expression turned into sympathy for the man’s losses, patting him on the back to really rub it in.
“Bah, that’s no real skill. When it came to knowin’ when the proper cards were gonna appear, I was always number one, no one else has come close to me, not even the boss!” Nathaniel expanded his arms, smiling while reminiscing of his previous victories.
“A win’s a win, pardner. I dunno what else to ya.” Henry shrugged, noticing a brief movement from his rod. “Hey, it’s movin’! I think I’m gonna catch somethin’!” He gripped the handle of the rod with a good amount of force, reeling back and swinging the pole on various directions to bring the fish closer.
“C’mon! You gotta reel it in faster! Faster!” Nathaniel instructed, also getting excited by the catch and standing right behind his friend in case he needed more man power.
“I know, I know damn it!” The man in the orange shirt retorted, attempting to hold on to his catch with all of his strength.
The fish would not let up and swung poor Henry left and right. It seemed like he alone wasn’t going to hold much longer, so Nathaniel decided to lend his hand and seated himself right behind Henry, holding his upper area tightly.
“Hold it there Henry, I’m gonna help ya out!” Smith shouted, staring at his comrade who turned his head around and gave him a cheeky smile.
“You really tryin’ to steal my thunder huh?”
“Focus on the darn fish!” The blue bandit barked, becoming annoyed by Henry’s antics.
Henry took hold of the fishing pole as hard as he could, starting to pull it back and now Nathaniel helped out too, dragging Henry’s body with a lot of strength while trying to not overdo the pressure, as he didn’t want to hurt the man.
With a final push, the duo was able to catch a massive catfish, which was still moving about and trying to go back into the sea.
“Shit, don’t let it escape Nathan! This is a big one! Hoooweeeee!” Henry celebrated, still holding the rod and pulling it to not let the fish escape. Nathaniel sprinted towards it and took aim with his finger gun.
“Wait, what’re ya doin’!?” Henry reclaimed, with Nathaniel looking back at him with a frown.
“Whaddaya think? I’m gonna hit it so that it stops squirmin’ ‘bout and we can bring it back to our camp!”
“Well, don’t go too crazy on it; we still need it to be fresh!”
With the matter settled, Nathaniel shot a few air bullets towards the fish, making it stop moving and seeing it try to breathe. “See? No problem for someone as great as me.” The outlaw tipped his hat, proud of a good job.
“You’re so full of yourself Nathaniel, someday you’re gonna have problems with that.” The man in orange rolled his eyes while shaking his head, now going towards the fish and starting to lift it. Smith went along and helped him out carry the aquatic feast to their camp.
The rest of the group were impressed by the catch and congratulated both men for having found such an amazing meal and everybody enjoyed a good night’s dinner.