Wolf of the West

10.

Although they'd only planned to stay for a couple days, Kate always found a way to get Will and Rudy to stay longer. Buddy must've warmed up to them as well, seeing as he'd let them stay for two and a half weeks thus far. Not that the boys minded, of course. In fact, Will was thankful that they didn't have to be on the run or sleep outside.
Life with the Hunnicutts had grown into a nice routine. The boys walked Kate to and from school, and while they were home alone, they (usually Will) tidied up a bit or explored the town together. One cloudy day they were doing the latter, accompanied by Kate. "So you two have really never gone huntin' before? Ever?" She asked, still rather baffled by this information. Buddy had taught her to hunt before he taught her to count.
Will shook his head. "Huntin' for frogs, maybe." He said, to which Kate rolled her eyes. "I meant real huntin', dummy. You ever shoot somethin'?"
Rudy snacked on an apple as he walked alongside them, about halfway done with the fruit as he used his large canines to take big bites. Swallowing and wiping his mouth, he responded, "Nah, we haven't. I don't really like uh, killin' things." He stated, his nose wrinkling as he thought back to the weeks before when he heard about the poor young woman Curly had murdered and partially eaten. It made his stomach turn, but he shook it from his mind. "Will's right— we've only got frogs. Then threw 'em back." He stated before taking another bite.
"Well then I know where we're goin'!" Kate chirped happily as she led them down the street. "I'm gonna teach you boys to shoot! It'd be mighty irresponsible of me to send y'all out there on your own without any idea of how to defend yourselves." She stated simply as she led them to the town shooting range.
  "I do know how to shoot, actually." Will stated, which earned him a weird look from the small girl. "But you've never shot nothin'? Likely." She doubted him, to which his eyebrows furrowed. "Well I've never gone huntin, but I got pretty good aim when it comes to bottles'n'things. Rudy's seen it."
"Yeah, he's pretty damn good," The other boy nodded with his cheek full of apple chunks, "He'd take his pa's old gun and go practice out in our pasture. One time he hit like, four in a row." He praised his friend before taking another deep bite into the crunchy, red apple. "I've only held a gun before— never shot."
Kate giggled a bit and shook her head at the boys. "Well it'll be worthwhile to actually learn anyways. I bet I'll find tons of stuff wrong with how you shoot since you're self taught." She told Will, before going on, "And since you don't know nothin' about it, I'll just show ya the basics so you can practice on your own time, Mister Rudy." Kate told them as she led them into a store in town.
It was the big gun shop she'd described when they'd first met. Inside were shelves and racks full of guns, including shotguns, rifles, and revolvers. "Percy's out right now, but I come here all the time so it's okay that we're practicin'. Just grab a revolver from behind the counter! They should already be loaded." Kate told them as she grabbed one herself. It made Will incredibly nervous watching such a young kid handle a gun, but he did what she told him to and grabbed a weapon himself.
Seeing all of the weaponry and targets inside of the shop made Rudy's forehead gleam with sweat, but he pushed down the initial anxiety and grabbed a revolver from the counter. He didn't even let his finger get close to the trigger, holding it pointed to the ground as he looked at the details of it. "Where do we practice?" He asked aloud as he looked back at Kate, genuinely wondering where in town they'd shoot a gun.
"Out back! Percy's got some hay bales with targets marked on em." Kate told them as she led them both behind the counter and through the back door. Percy indeed had target practice hay bales. There were also bottles lined on top of the fence and targets nailed onto the boards of the fence. "Will, I wanna see you shoot that little blue bottle down there." She bossed him.
Will only rolled his eyes and stepped around them before taking aim at the bottle. He stood still and took a good moment or two as he steadied his breathing and focused, but as soon as he pulled the trigger, the blue bottle was no more, having exploded into tinier pieces scattered around the fence. "See? I can shoot just fine." He told her, looking back at the small girl, expecting nothing less than an impressed look. Her face, however, could be described more as amused.
"You're real funny. You ain't even know how to hold your gun right." She snarked at him. Naturally, he got defensive, cheeks growing warm and red. "What in the hell do you mean I don't know how to hold my gun right? I hit the stupid bottle, Kate!" He nearly barked at her, though she remained unfazed.
  "Yeah, well if you aimed like that with a rifle, you'd break your nose! It's way too close to your face. You're supposed to hold it out like this." She critiqued him without a care in the world that he was irritated, before aiming her gun, arms much more stretched and steady than Will's. With little to no effort, she aimed at the bottles and shot three of them in a row. "Now go practice on one of the targets so I can help Rudy. And stop aimin' with your eye closed, it's a nasty habit." She ordered him.
Rudy's eyebrows raised as he stopped chewing mid-bite, watching as the girl both sassed his companion then shot down three bottles. It was a little intimidating, especially due to him flinching from the loud shots ringing in his sensitive ears. "Well. You got this, man." The boy said as he turned to Will with a surprised and anxious look on his face, but knew that his friend would be okay. It was his own well-being he was worried about with shooting a gun, knowing he was as clumsy as someone with two left feet.
Will gave an irritated tap of his fingers on his hip, but nodded to his friend. "Yeah, I know that. You're gonna do great, too. Deep breaths, Ru." He told him, sensing the anxiety radiating off of his partner. "Yeah, you're gonna do just fine, Mister Rudy!" Kate confirmed as she led him over towards one of the targets and away from where Will had begun to angrily mutter to himself and practice aiming right. "Alright, now I don't expect you to be a legendary shooter, so don't be too nervous. You're just too darn cute for that! But go ahead and aim first so I can fix your form."
With an amused look on his face at the compliment, the redhead gave a small glance down at Kate and snorted. The continuous compliments and childlike flirts were pretty funny to him, but in no way did he encourage it. He raised his freckled arms and elongated them, just how she had taught Will, and tried to focus on the target. He took in a breath through his nose and let his finger rest on the trigger, tensing his shoulders as he pulled it down. The bang made him flinch but the shot wasn't as bad as he expected, hitting an outer ring of the target.
"Wow, that was so good Mister Rudy! I can't believe that was your first time shootin'!" Kate cheered, giving her hands an excited clap. "Your form was great, but you need to relax better. You tensed up right before you shot and it threw off your aim a lot! You can't make a shot if your focus gets all messed up while you're pullin' the trigger. As long as the barrel ain't pointed at ya, it ain't gonna hurt ya." She explained what went wrong, though she praised him incredibly highly in comparison to Will, who only rolled his eyes again and continued practicing.
Rudy glanced down at her then back to the gun, "Makes sense— I get nervous a lot." He stated as he shook out the tension from his body and took another deep breath, "Alrighty— trying this again." He muttered to himself as he aligned the barrel of the gun up with the target from his point of view. This time, he let his shoulders relax as he focused on his aim and fired— the bullet striking much closer to the bullseye. He took a sigh of confidence and looked over at Will, "Gettin' there! How're you comin' along?"
Will had actually taken a short break from practicing to watch Rudy shoot the second time. "Oh— Yeah, I'm good. I think I pretty much got it. Aimin' with both eyes is hard because I taught myself to do it with one, though." Will awkwardly scratched his head. "Shoot three bottles and then a bullseye if you think you're soooo good." Kate challenged him, to which he immediately answered. The change in how he aimed made it easier for him to focus, so in an almost effortless manner, he took out three bottles and shot on the line right outside of the bullseye. It wasn't exactly what she'd asked, but it was damn close.
Rudy grinned and let out a, "Woohoo!" At his friend's skill at shooting as he clapped his hands a few times, "You're a damn natural, Will! Think you can give me some of that talent?" He teased him in a friendly matter with all honesty in his compliments, looking back at where he shot in amazement as Kate's challenge was met.
Will's cheeks flushed at his friend's compliments and he gave a bashful kick to the ground. "Shucks, Rudy, you flatter me too much." He chuckled a bit, "Thank you, though."
"Well as much as I like teasin' ya, that was pretty good, Will Barkley! I'm gonna have to take you huntin' so you can practice on an actual movin' target." Kate complimented for once, though Will nervously pursed his lips at the suggestion. "I sure 'ppreciate you, Kate, but I don't think I'd really be able to shoot somethin' dead. Blood makes me sick, and I'd just feel too darn bad. Maybe we could tie a target to a tree limb or somethin' like that. Rudy could get some good practice in too, since he's already pretty good aim."
"Yeah..., I couldn't see Will killin' something and not crying about it." He teased his friend, already walking over to give him a friendly nudge with his arm. "The tree limb idea sounds better, though! Especially if the wind starts kickin' up, too." He commented as he looked back at Kate, wondering about her thoughts on the subject. "I wouldn't even be fond of killin' something— which is why we were so nervous to be in a huntin' town like this one."
Will light heartedly hit his friend's shoulder, though he knew what he said was true. They were both too soft for things like that. "I guess growin' up in one makes it easier! But if it makes you feel any better about it, the deer around here are what eat up all the plants because there's so darn many of em. And Buddy and I make sure to use all of our game so none of it's wasted." Kate explained with a happy shrug. "Well I guess that kinda makes it better if they're bad for other livin' things. I still don't think I could kill em, though." Will agreed with Kate, though he was still pretty soft and squeamish.
"That explains all the pelts and stuff— just usin' every part of the animal." He commented positively as he put his hands on his hips. "In our town, there were only a few hunters but they weren't in town much. Except to deliver meat and stuff to the butcher, of course." He shrugged. "I had a buncha animals on my farm, like Henrietta." He sighed, thinking back to all of the livestock in the barn and realized how much he missed them.
"Aw, I love Henrietta! I've never seen a chicken be so lovey to someone before. I bet all of your animals loved you like that, huh?" Kate asked. "Maybe not as much as Henni, but Rudy's definitely some kinda animal whisperer, I'll give him that." Will answered with a small chuckle, though deep down, even he missed helping Rudy collect eggs and mess around in the stables.
Rudy's freckled cheeks flushed pink at Will's compliment as he chuckled, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. "Geez— I dunno about animal whisperer." He laughed softly, "But naw, not all my animals were like that. Jeb was my donkey and he hated my guts for whatever grudge he had against me." He couldn't help but smile at the thought of the old donkey that would always make gross faces at him and would bray every time he passed.
"All donkeys are like that, though!" Kate exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips, gun and all. "Yeah, and Jeb's older than dirt anyways. He loves ya deep down." Will shrugged his small shoulders, to which Kate added on further. "Right! But aside from all that talk, we should probably get outta here if we ain't practicin' no more."
"Yeah. It's hotter than a stovetop out here," Rudy said as he swiped his forearm over his head, the sweat glittering on his arm afterward. "Do y'all have a general store here and, better question, do they sell sarsaparilla?" He asked as he wiped his sweaty palms on his pants.
"You're gonna sound like Will askin' stupid questions like that, silly!" Kate said, to which Will uttered a small 'thanks for that.' "I showed y'all the general store when you got here. C'mon, let's go look!" She told them, waving her arm to tell them to follow along as she headed back through the door of the big gun shop. Once inside, she laid her gun on the counter.
Rudy shook his head, giving Will a nudge with his arm as he headed back inside. He sat the revolver atop the counter and once again wiped his palms off on his pants. "I wish they'd have cobbler too, but I dunno if y'all do market sales at your general store. Ours used to do these collaborations with some widows in town and they'd make the best desserts." He told Kate, feeling his mouth grow watery at the thought of the cobblers from Ft. Smith.
Will followed suit in returning his gun and followed Kate as she exited the shop. "Mmm, I don't think ours do that, but I bet we could buy some stuff from the general store to make some at home!" She offered happily as she trotted along down the street, waving to the occasional adoring towns person who greeted her. "That'd be a nice treat tonight." Will admitted with a small nod.
"I agree. I haven't had cobbler in so long, it feels like a punishment." He joked as he followed along behind Kate and alongside Will, "Hopefully they've got some fresh apples. Any cobbler is good but cinnamon-apple cobbler is the best, in my opinion." He rambled on about his favorite treat.
"And I agree to that." Will agreed. He liked other cobblers, but the happy times that come with eating apple cobbler with Rudy made it that much better than the others. Taste-wise, he preferred pecan pie. "Tsk tsk tsk." Kate shook her head as she stepped up the short set of stairs to the small general store of the town. "I like cherry the best. But apple's pretty good too! And if you both like it, that's what we're gonna make."
"Thank ya, Kate!" Rudy couldn't help but grin in relief at the chance of making apple cobbler first and foremost. It was one of the most consoling tastes to him, and even though it had been weeks since their tense adventure had begun, he still needed a good comfort pretty often. Especially after thinking more and more about the next full moon and transforming. Nonetheless, he pushed the thoughts back and focused on the idea of cobbler dessert.
"Yessir!" Kate shot him a happy grin as she trotted her way down the aisles of the store, looking for the things they'd need. Will, on the other hand, traipsed the aisles hunting down his favorite fizzy drink. "Say, do you fellas know what apple cobbler calls for? Besides apples and cinnamon?" Kate asked asked boys from across the store as she grabbed a few yellow-ish-pink apples from a basket.
"Know it by heart," Rudy couldn't help but laugh at himself of his knowledge of the recipe. "A lot of it we got at the house, I think. Flour, powder, sugar, salt. All that's for the batter— the filling needs apples and cinnamon, which ya already know, cornstarch, nutmeg, vanilla, and brown sugar. That's about it." Rudy tried to trace his memory for anything he was forgetting, but was pretty sure he mentioned it all.
"Ummm. Then I think we just need some nutmeg and cornstarch!" She told him as she sat the apples on the counter so that her little arms were free to grab the other ingredients. "We ran outta brown sugar earlier this week when we made the sweet ham for dinner." Will pointed out, to which Kate snapped her small fingers as she remembered. "Only you'd remember that, Will! Mister Rudy, I think all the sugars are kept on the higher shelf up here. If you would be so inclined." She asked him from her spot in front of the spice cabinet, not wanting to directly admit she couldn't reach it herself." Will, holding three sarsaparillas, didn't offer to help out of fear that he'd be bullied by the girl for his height some more.
"Oh yeah. No worries." Rudy craned his neck up to look at the top shelf, standing on his toes to grab the brown sugar that sat on top. He held the can in his palms as he looked about the shelves for the other ingredients, picking up nutmeg which was by the spices. "Only cornstarch left, yeah?" He stated as he stacked the cans, looking back down at Kate for confirmation.
Kate happily nodded and waddled past him. "Uh huh! I know where it is!" She assured him, running over to one of the shelves and grabbing a small container of the powder. "Now we just gotta pay." She said as she carried the starch to the counter.
"Afternoon, Little Miss Kathryn! This all for ya today?" The man at the counter tipped his hat to the small girl, who gave him a sweet smile. "That, and we got three sarsaparillas, a thing of brown sugar, and some cinnamon!" She told him so that he could ring them up correctly. The man told her their total and she reached down to dig into the coin purse that was hooked to the ribbon of her dress and paid in full. "G'day to ya, miss." He said once he bagged her items, to which she curtsied and held the large bag in both of her arms. "Alright fellas! You can toss everything in if you'd like." Kate offered, though Will didn't really want to make her carry everything in her tiny nine year old arms.
"Naw, all that's gonna make ya trip. I've got it." Rudy intervened, practically reading Will's mind as he held out his arms and scooped up the bag from her politely, setting the cans in. It was a bit odd to him that it felt like he was holding an apple at most. The bag was pretty light which made him feel a bit tense, knowing that his strength had clearly been increasing ever since they arrived in town. Sometimes he didn't even notice it, but in that moment it seemed to weird him out.
Kate let out a small, offended gasp as the bag was taken from her. "With all due respect, I woulda carried that perfectly fine! And no offense Mister Rudy, but your face is all weird and I feel like you're gonna drop it." She protested, though Will stepped in as he sat the sarsaparilla into the bag as well and put a comforting arm around his friend. "You're gonna be just fine without it, Kate. Your arms could barely fit around just the apples." The girl gave a small huff and stomped her foot, but gave in and let Rudy carry the bag.
Rudy blinked his way back into reality to glance down at the bag, not even noticing the beverages added. He glanced down at Will then to Kate, forcing out a chuckle as he headed out of the store. "I ain't gonna drop it, don't worry." He told her, adjusting his grip on the bag as he stepped off of the porch. "Now we're headed home. I can taste the cobbler already." He sighed to himself as he started walking in the direction of the Hunnicutt Home.
Kate only muttered god knows what to herself as she walked with them on the dirt road to her house. Kate's attitude over the groceries earned a small snicker from Will, who found it quite funny that she wasn't getting her way from Rudy of all people. But he left her alone and instead glanced up at Rudy. "You doin' alright, Ru?" He asked gently, noticing the small changes in his behavior.