Travel Plans
Fandom: Shanghai Knights/Shanghai Noon
Written for: rache in the Yuletide
2004 Challenge
by Angel
"John?"
"Go to sleep, Roy."
"But John--"
"I am asleep, Roy."
Roy turned up the gaslight. "John, I had a great idea."
"I am not listening, Roy." His friend had already rolled away and was
taking half the quilt off Roy's side of the bed too.
"It'll make us plenty of money and I can publish the next installment
of Roy O'Bannon and the Shanghai Kid."
"I am not hearing this, Roy." Chon had had quite enough of Roy's
harebrained schemes for one day, and just wanted to sleep.
"We'll go to Mexico. There's lots of gold down there. All we have to do
is find it where the Spaniards lost it."
"I think I heard that." Chon rolled back over and reached over Roy to
dim the gaslight. "Roy, it is late. You should sleep too.
We will talk about this in the morning."
Roy knew that when John used that tone, there was no arguing. "Night,
John." He wrapped one arm over John's waist and
got comfortable.
Chon waited a few minutes, making sure Roy was determined to sleep and
then settled in himself. He was just comfortable when
Roy squeezed him a little tighter and whispered, "John? I'll bet we can
find a lot of gold. Enough to print ten thousand copies. And
there will be enough adventures to write three more installments."
Torn between stifling his best friend with a pillow or pretending to be
asleep, Chon opted for the latter. Roy's voice lulled him off
to sleep as he fantasized about mountains of gold and endless
publishing rights.
The next morning, over breakfast in the hotel restaurant, Roy kept up a
steady monologue as he stuffed his face with griddlecakes
and eggs. Chon ate, listening, nodding at the right moments and trying
to figure out how to convince Roy he was dreaming.
"Roy, I have to go back to Carson City to let them know I am ready to
return to sheriffing. You may come with me."
"John? I thought we were going to Mexico?"
"First, we go to Carson City. Come on, Roy. I miss you. There will be
adventures on the way."
Chon managed to herd his friend to the train station and had them
settled in the car when Roy decided he was adamant about Mexico.
Chon excused himself to wire ahead to have his house aired out. Roy was
not be dissuaded, but Chon pointed out that home was
closer to Mexico than the St. Louis hotel, and Roy subsided.
The train ride was pleasant enough, and Chon enjoyed watching Missouri
and Oklahoma roll past his window. But Roy was bored.
And a bored Roy was trouble. Before they stopped for water in
Springfield, he had already flirted with every woman in the car, and a
lmost proposed to one.
"Roy! What would Lin say if she could see you?"
"She's the one who went back to China, John." Roy sat down and put his
hand on Chon's knee. "Besides, you know me. I'm just lookin'."
"You look too much, Roy." Chon made no more to remove Roy's hand, and
they rode in silence for several minutes.
The rest of the day was uneventful, and the sleeper car was barely
comfortable. They managed, having slept in far worse
conditions. The next day, Oklahoma territory continued past the window.
"Don't this prairie ever end?" Roy complained. He'd scribbled a few
sentences of the next installment, but hadn't had much
inspiration. He had paced the car, scowling, and generally done his
best to transmit his foul mood to everyone around him.
Chon had to admit it was working. Most of the folks had gotten edgy and
snappish, as if catching it from Roy. One man, sleeping
under his hat, had not. They stopped for water near Sandy Creek. In a
few miles, they would cross into Kansas for a brief time.
Chon loved travel. The United States and its territories were enormous,
and so varied he was never tired of watching them.
Roy had finally stopped prowling and sat down beside the sleeping man.
He imitated him, propping up his feet and putting his hat
over his face. Before long, Chon and the rest of the car heard honking
snores come from under Roy's hat. The sleeping man tipped
his up and glared at his seatmate.
He visited the WC in the back of the car, and Chon returned to his
scenery watching. The sleeping man brushed past him as he
made his way to the front of the car. Chan puzzled this. It wasn't
Roy's pacing, and there was no stop for miles.
"All right folks," the man announced his hat low and his bandanna over
his face. He held both guns fixed on the passengers. "We're
gonna play like we're in church. Everyone put your hands on your
head and set quiet like you was prayin'. Preachers say the poor
are blessed, well, I'm here to bless you folks. Don't try anything
cute, because my buddy Jake back there has an old Tredegar
and it ain't too accurate. `specially with Jake's itchy trigger finger.
So just sit still and face front, cause ol' Jake ain't too fond of
bein'
seen neither."
The passengers sat meekly with their hands on their heads. Chon just
watched.
"You, chinaman, hands on your head." Slowly, Chon brought his hands up.
It was always best to obey a man with a gun. "All right,
nice and easy, we're gonna pass the hat. Nobody passes it by, folks.
Money, jewelry, gewgaws, just toss it right in."
The bandit moved slowly down the center of the car, shoving his
battered hat under the passengers' noses. When it got to Chon, he
made a big show of reaching for his wallet, but instead grabbed the
robber's arm.
He yanked the pistol out of the other hand in one fast move, and sent
it spinning under the seats ahead. He struck the plexus of the
arm, and the robber dropped the hat. Chon made sure it landed in the
lap of a preacher two rows behind them.
A few quick blows had the bandit ducking and trying to twist free. Chon
hit him twice more and then hustled him down the aisle,
although the man was half a head taller than he was. After knocking the
wooden head against the wooden panel to subdue him for
a moment, Chon wrestled the train door open and shoved the would-be
bandit out onto the Kansas prairie.
He turned back to see the rest of the car going through the hat for
their things. A little girl, her dolly held tight against her, came to
him, swaying with the car. "Thank you, mister," she said, holding up a
wrist with an antique looking gold bracelet. "It was my
grandma's and that bad man wanted it."
He smiled. "You're welcome." He patted her head before making his way
to the rear of the car. The fictitious Jake was long forgotten.
And Roy had slept through the whole thing.
Chon sat down beside his friend, and amused himself by filching Roy's
personal effects, one by one, and hiding them in his jacket.
Roy finally stirred when Chon pinched his hat and handed it to a nearby
lady, who tucked it under her voluminous skirt.
Roy reached up to set his hat back on his head, and flailed at the
emptiness. "John? What happened?"
"We were robbed, Roy. He took everything." Chon put on his most
hang-dog expression.
"Robbed! He musta hit me on the head. That's it, I've been unconscious
and have some amnesia, right?"
"No, Roy, you slept through it."
Roy patted himself frantically. "Our money! My notes! My wallet! My
genuine gold ten-dollar watch!"
"Gone, Roy." Chon looked at the floor of the car and shook his head
sadly, mostly trying to suppress his smile.
"Aw, Chon. I'll bet they got your dad's puzzle box too." Roy sat down
on the seat beside him. "Guess we have to go back to your
place now, if only to stock up before we go to Mexico."
"I am sorry, Roy, I know how much you wanted to go."
"It's okay. Anywhere with you is fine." Roy propped his feet back up
and slouched against the rear wall of the train. He yawned hugely,
and stretched his arms, one coming to rest around Chon's shoulders.
It was more public than he liked, but Chon let Roy hold him as he faded
off to sleep. Once Roy was out again, Chon slipped his effects
back onto his person, and took the hat from the lady who had hid it for
him.
He laid his head on Roy's shoulder and dropped the hat over his face.
His XiaoRui never stirred. Finally allowing himself a smile, Chon
allowed the New Mexico desert to lull him to sleep as well.