Proof Of Proof

Billy Boy closed the hotel door to his room with a solemn thud. Today was the day to prove his worth once and for all - or die. He'd thought of nothing else since the day before when the challenge was thrown down and he'd convinced himself there was no other way.

What he didn't know was that Laughing Larry had caught wind of what was going down and waited in the hallway for Billy Boy to come out. Then Laughing Larry laughed.

"Haha, boy! He playin' you like a fiddle! Yes, sir, a boy gonna do what a boy gonna do."

"I ain't no boy! And don't try talking me out of it. My brothers, my pa, everyone done tried. Nothing you say can stop me!"

"Who's trying to stop ya?? I can use the laugh. Suckered like a newborn babe."

"I'm not listening to this."

"Cockeyed Clint is fastest gun in the territory. And he got you playing his game, his way, on his terms. What a moron!"

"You'll see who the moron is - "

"When I see your dead body in the street."

"I'm not backing down and that's final."

"Ol' Clint knows you're a boy, gotta prove yourself. A man would up and walk away, not carin' 'bout words of a loudmouth loser. See, I know Clint long time back and seen him play this game before. It only works on boys."

"But I'm a man!"

"Nah, a man wouldn't have nothin' to prove. You ever stop to think why Cockeyed Clint work so hard to get fastest? You think it's because he's a better man?? That's a hoot, boy!"

"What you driving at?"

"Ol' Clint got something eatin' at him, eatin' at him bad. Drive him crazy round the clock."

"You're second person saying something eating at him."

"A man can spot it. A blind boy cannot. That what give Clint his edge. He's a snake, that one! Haha!"

Billy Boy hesitated as he connected the dots. What does drive a man to become a gunfighter? What makes a man need to prove himself that badly?"

Laughing Larry saw his words hit home. "See, boy, if ya really wants to kill Cockeyed Clint, just ask him when last time he please a woman."

Larry turned to exit down the stairway, laughing all the way.

***

Out of the saloon strode Cockeyed Clint into the bright morning sun. The street tensed as this scene had played out before and knew the dreaded outcome. How can such evil play out under this innocent light? Was the world to be exposed as a futureless fraud?

"I told you, boy, I didn't want see you here after sunup. Should of rode out when you had the chance."

Billy Boy's inkling of truth from the hotel hallway was gaining momentum. He saw nothing before him but a desperate soul with something to prove. Why should he answer to this clown?

Billy's calmness irked Clint to the core. He played the only card he knew how to play.

"Draw, boy!"

Billy only relaxed all the more. "You wouldn't like it if I did."

"Draw!"

"OK, here goes: When's the last time you pleased a woman?"

The muted snickers Cockeyed Clint heard from the street were worse than bullets going through his body. His physically rocked as if being shot.

"You sonabitch! Draw!"

Billy turned to ride away. Yes, he had been a sucker to have been manipulated by this frustrated simp.

"Don't you walk away from me! Coward! Yellow-belly! People will laugh at you rest of your life."

But the joke was on the gunfighter as the muted snickering had exploded into full blown laughter by the onlookers. As Billy, no longer a boy, rode off back to the chaparral, Cockeyed Clint whirled around in terror as if he'd been stripped naked. In a fearful fright he fetched his horse from the stable to the jeers of the onlookers, never to be seen again.

"No wonder he been playing with his gun so much!"

Town hookers cackled, "Tell him we offer a virgin discount!"

Larry watched with delight, having the best laugh he'd had in a long while.