Author's Note: - Here's a little something that wouldn't leave my head until I wrote it down. Hope you enjoy!
Thanks: - Special thanks to my Beta, NotTasha, who did a wonderful job, really got the juices flowing.
Hope ya'll like squab 'cause I don't even know what one looks like. Thanks again, NotTasha!
Feedback: - I'd love to hear any comments and suggestions that you have. Give me a buzz!
"When I was a kid, I got real sick, nearly died. Had these red spots all over me, and I mean everywhere." JD Dunne laughed in remembrance. "Man did they itch! Course I don't remember the itch till after." The young man looked around the group who waited patiently for him to continue. "Had this fever first, my throat was on fire and I felt as weak as a lamb…""Guess that ain't never gonna change," Buck badgered JD, and let out another hoot of laughter and good-naturedly slapped Dunne on the back. The firm clout almost caused the young gunslinger to lose his balance, but he quickly regained his footing. The younger man shot a look of annoyance toward the jovial ladies' man and Wilmington had the tumidity to grin wryly back.
"My ma sat by my bed for four days, holding my hand and bathing me. Only time she left my side was to get more water from the well or fix some more broth. I don't think she had anything to eat that whole time I was sick." JD pondered for the first time this startling revelation. "She was the best!"
"Sounds like ya had a right fine ma, JD." Nathan nodded in understanding. The healer smiled. "And guess she done the right thing, 'cause yer here, living proof of her excellent nurturing."
Wilmington smiled gregariously. "Heck, the day I turned fourteen, Wooeee! My ma got me the best present. See we didn't usually have enough money ta buy each other presents, but this birthday, my ma said it was important."
"What she get ya, Buck?" JD's enthusiastically jumped.
Buck rolled his eyes, but asked anyway, "Ya know where I grew up, JD?"
"Yeah yeah…so what she get ya?" Wilmington coughed slightly and looked at the others. Coming to a decision, Buck reached over and covered the kid's ears with both hands. "Buck!" Dunne yelled and ducked under the offending hands.
"Mr. Wilmington is attempting to preserve your naivety," Standish drawled.
JD blinked, suddenly understanding the younger man blushed. "Oh! Ya mean she gave you a… a…"
"Yeah!" Buck stretched the one word and it came out on a long sigh.
The saloon was rather boisterous for the early afternoon, and the atmosphere was lighthearted and the mood one of expectation. Glasses clicked and the roar of laughter lifted the spirits of the men that gathered in the saloon. All seven peacekeepers were present, though not all were actively participating in the discussion. Josiah's boom of laughter filled the room, echoing around the walls, at some comment from the dark healer. Chris Larabee smiled and glanced around the room in search of the quiet tracker. Finding him leaning against the bar with a faraway look on his face, Chris stepped over to the sombre man and searched his eyes for a path to his soul. Unable to read the tired expression, the man in black reached out and squeezed the tracker's shoulder. Vin pulled away, anger lit his eyes and picking up the bottle of whisky he'd been nursing, retreated out the door, leaving a confused gunslinger in his wake.
Larabee looked at the swinging doors for a full minute then back to the table where the rest of their group was. Josiah gave a shrug of his shoulders as he too had witnessed the exchange but didn't understand Tanner's abrupt departure. Chris wiped his hand over his chin as his gaze travelled over each of the remaining men. Both Buck and JD hadn't noticed as they were still deep in conversation, and Nathan seemed to be trapped in their storytelling also. Ezra Standish lifted his own gaze and met Chris' head on; he'd seen the tracker leave. And to Chris's total amazement, Standish pushed back his chair and followed on the path that Tanner had made only minutes previous.
Ezra stepped out on the boardwalk and stopped just beyond the swinging doors for a minute while he scanned the street for the tracker. Seeing the buck-skinned man entering the livery, Standish raced across the street to catch up with him. Ezra entered the livery and walked down to Peso's stall expecting to find Vin saddling his mount, but found the stall empty bar the horse. Frowning, the gambler checked the remaining stalls for the missing tracker but didn't find him in any of these either. The southerner lifted his gaze upward when a shower of dust fell to the hay strewn floor. A small grin formed at the corners of the gambler's lips.
Ezra climbed the wooden ladder that led to the hayloft above the stalls and called out, "Mr. Tanner?" He stopped when his head was level with the top and crossed his arms and rested them on the edge of the hayloft. His grin widened when he caught the figure of the tracker hunched in the corner and tipping the whisky bottle high. "Vin?"
"Go away, Ezra," Tanner spat out vehemently.
Ezra lowered his head to his hands and sighed. "If that is what you want, Mr. Tanner. I only thought that…" he paused unsure how to continue. Hell, he wasn't really sure why he'd followed the tracker out here himself.
"Yeah, that's what I want!" The words slurred slightly, but the intent was just as fierce.
"May I say that you are not the only one to feel the hard austerity of life."
"Go ta hell, Standish!"
With a nod he was sure Vin didn't even notice, Ezra started down the ladder.
Vin sucked on the bottle and swallowed another mouthful, and winced as the strong liquid hit the back of his throat. His mind flew back to the conversation in the saloon and paused as he remembered the southerner's lack of interest and input to the discussion. In fact the usually flamboyant gambler had been rather terse with his replies, even his mood was reflective of his own. He listened as the southerner climbed down the ladder and his steps took him closer to the door. Without any conscious thought of why he did it, Vin called out, "Ezra." Vin shuffled over to the edge of the hayloft and peered down at the waiting southerner. Standish had stopped, his back to the tracker. "Got enough whisky here if you've a mind to share." He held the bottle aloft and grinned.
Ezra smiled. Pulling out his flask from his jacket pocket he turned and headed back to the ladder. "I believe I can offer something to this party as well," and he smiled up to the tracker, showing the gold tooth and the dimples in his cheeks.
The unlikely pair sat companionably together, not a word passing between them, content for the moment to enjoy the soliditude of the quiet.
Tanner handed back the flask and accepted the return of the bottle of whisky from Ezra. Whoever heard of mixing the fine scotch that Standish had in that flask with common redeye whisky? But Ezra didn't seem to mine none. So who was he to argue? With a slight hesitation Vin broke the silence, "Ya know my ma died when I was five?"
Ezra looked up into the saddened blue eyes, and he'd swear that tears brimmed at the edges of his eyes. Dropping his head to gaze at his feet, Standish quietly replied, "It is truly an unfortunate malady to encounter such hardship at such a young age."
Tanner lifted his head and, though it was hard to read the gambler normally, he seemed sincere in his compassion, almost like he understood personally how Vin felt. Taking a wild swing in the dark, Vin pursued this thought. "You know your father?"
The gambler's mouth dropped open and his eyes widened to saucers. How had he let so much slip? "Um…"
Vin interrupted when he noticed how flustered the southerner had become, "Sorry. Ain't none of my business."
"No, that's quite all right." Having regained some semblance of control he felt the need to share his own adversity with someone. "You have a right to ask, in return for your own disclosure." He paused unsure how to begin. "My father was killed when I too was five years old. I watched it all, unable to move, to even help him fight off his attackers. Then after…Mother packed us up, leaving him lying in a pool of blood that was still warm, and we just left. Abandoned him! We didn't even give him a funeral." Ezra stared off into the distance, choked with emotion. Sniffing back the tears that threatened to fall, he swallowed a mouthful from his flask not daring to look at Tanner, or his pity.
Vin snaked out his hand and squeezed the southerner's leg; he understood the anguish the man had gone through. What he didn't understand was why Maude had taken him away before they could even bury his father. He shook his head; even he'd had the honour of that final farewell with his ma.
Vin didn't like the way this conversation was heading and decided then and there that he'd change its direction. "Ya know I had a foster family for a while?" Seeing he'd gained the southerner's attention he continued, "Yeah, when I's eight, had me a 'nuther ma and pa, but they already had a passle of kids, and I was jist another mouth ta feed. Dunno why they really wanted me, but having other kids around was a hoot. And it was different to the orphanage," the lean tracker shrugged with indifference. Smiling, Vin took a step back in time, "I remember this one time we were all mucking around and David, he was the oldest, started hassling me about only being there 'cause the orphanage was paying the Murphy's ta take me. Anyhow, I left in a huff an' took off by myself. Didn't really leave or nothin', just needed to get away from them, ya know." Vin watched as the southerner's head nodded. "Well, the other kids came lookin' for me, and when I saw 'em, I pretended like I hadn't seen 'em. I climbed up on the fence rail and started walking round the edge of it. Had me arms stretched out to balance and I walked nearly the whole way round the holding pen."
Vin saw a growing smile on Ezra's face, and smiled in return. "And what pray tell happened?"
"Well, I kinda slipped…"
"And?" Ezra prompted.
"Let's just say, if I hadn't broken my leg, then Mr. Murphy woulda done it for me."
"Our sure-footed tracker fell off a rail?" Standish doubled over with laughter.
"And if you tell a soul, I'll deny every word," Tanner threatened.
Ezra held up his hands in mock surrender. "I wouldn't dream of recounting your tale."
Vin nodded his thanks and arched his eyebrows. "Well?"
Standish feigned incomprehension. "Well what?"
"Ah, come on," Tanner implored.
"Okay, Okay." He sat silent for a moment thinking, then smiling he started, "When I was eight I was staying with my aunt and uncle. They didn't have any children of their own, but they did have a cat. While I stayed there she gave birth to a coddle of kittens and I became rather taken with one in particular. This one day the misguided feline decided to try out its tree climbing skills, and got stuck out on a branch and wouldn't come down, no matter how much I cajoled. Stupid animal." Standish shook his head in amusement. "Of course, I couldn't leave it stuck up in the tree, so I went up after it."
Tanner interrupted here with a snort. "Can't imagine you climbing up a tree, Ez."
"You want me to continue?"
"Yeah, keep going."
"Thank you. As I was saying, I went to retrieve the feline. I climbed out onto the branch and reached to grab him and the animal backed away, back arched and hair standing up on end. So I made a risky lunge and managed to capture the beast. And what did the ungrateful feline do? Scratched out with its claws and tore up my arm. Unfortunately with all its slashing and jumping about I dropped him, but not before he managed to unseat me. And I too joined the feline on the ground.
Vin couldn't wait any longer, and with tears streaming down his face he burst out in laughter, clutching his middle and rolling in the hay. In between the fits of laughter Tanner gasped out, "Ya git hurt?"
Standish stared at the laughing man, before he joined in. "I broke my arm…" and then added, "and both the cat's back legs when I landed on him."
The tracker let off another round of laughter at the final admission from the gambler. "Yer lucky he broke yer fall."
Standish stopped long enough to admonish the chuckling man. "I'm glad you can find some pleasure out of my misfortune," he drawled.
"Ah, it ain't that, Ezra…" another chuckle interrupted, "but ya broke the cat's legs, great rescue attempt."
"I'll have you know that cat was well tended and had both of its legs splinted." He sheepishly added, "And only had a slight limp afterwards."
Tanner hooted again. "Hope you ain't around iffin I ever break my leg."
Standish smiled broadly and rested his head back against the wall of the hayloft. He was enjoying himself immensely.
"Got one," Vin jubilantly declared.
"Please proceed," Ezra waved his hand in permission, and grinned in anticipation.
"I's eleven, first time I ever picked up a gun. Real heavy thing. I set out a target on the front of a huge elm tree. Then took off, counted back fifty paces. Lined it up, had the sight dead centre, and squeezed the hammer back. The damn thing just about blew me off my feet, had such a kick. My arms felt like they were ripped out of their sockets and my hands were shaking so badly.
"And the target?" Standish prodded.
Tanner snorted. "Hell, I's nowhere near hitting it. When I jerked the gun the bullet went straight up."
Astounded, Standish queried, "You missed?"
"Define missed. I got meself a fat juicy squab. Dead to centre. Bought 'im down. Made a fine dinner that night." Chuckling again Vin added, "Never was real sure how I done hit that bird, but it made up fer not coming a nare's scare within cooey of hitting that target."
"Our sharpshooter's most auspicious beginnings," the gambler laughed out.
"Gotta start somewhere, pard," Tanner smirked boyishly.
"Hmmm…I don't think we'll delve into my first lessons with a gun…but maybe this will suffice. I was ten at the time, and staying with yet another aunt and uncle, Betsy and George, and their three offspring, Charlie, Brett and Amanda. My cousins and I didn't exactly get along too well, and they were probably a little put out that there was an extra mouth to feed and even less time allowed for them. How they came to that conclusion is beyond me as Aunt Betsy and Uncle George only found time for me when I'd done some misdemeanour.
While we were all supposed to be cleaning out the barn, the four of us found a stash of dynamite. I mentioned that I knew how to use explosives. Of course my nefarious cousins refused to believe me, but nevertheless dared me to show them. Now baring in mind that both Charlie and Brett were older then me, and Amanda was a little younger, this should give you some indication as to the total intelligence of our entire group."
Vin openly smirked, but kept quiet allowing Ezra to continue.
"Never one to pass up a challenge, I accepted. I told them I'd select my target and prepare it, then they could come and watch the demolition. And the old privy out the back was the prefect target. I rigged it out with the dynamite then set off to find my cousins. When we returned, I blew up the outhouse. It was absolutely perfect. All four walls fell away and the roof soared high into the air and landed in a cloud of dust behind the hen house. Unfortunately, while I retrieved my cousins for the demonstration, my uncle decided to use the facilities." A bright smile covered Standish's countenance. "He was still sitting on the box with his pants at his ankles. I don't believe I've ever seen anyone look so utterly stunned. His face was covered in black soot and his hair stood up on end. A shower of paper rained down on him as the air settled and then…"
"Yeah?"
"He sort of resembled a raging bull. I swear that steam was coming out his ears and nose. And he never saw any of my cousins, only me, watching from my vantage-point. The cowards took their leave as soon as they saw the consequences, leaving me to bare the brunt of the onslaught of the enraged man. Hell, I took off out of there so fast, he was never going to catch me…"
A roar of laughter erupted from below, joined by hoots of chuckling and sniggering, which sounded suspiciously familiar. Slightly embarrassed at being overheard, Standish and Tanner leaned over the edge to determine who was in the audience. Ezra shared a glance with Vin at the pair of hysterical lawmen below, Josiah was literally holding up Chris. At that time the two eavesdropping men looked up into the hayloft to discover they'd been caught.
Feeling a redness tinge his cheeks Ezra quietly asked, "How long have you two been down there?"
"Son," Sanchez boomed, "since you broke the kitty's legs." The former preacher looked at Larabee and broke down, sinking to the floor in peals of laughter.
Standish groaned. Now his secrets were public knowledge. "You could have at least made it for Vin's slip off…"
"Hey!" Tanner slammed his hand over Standish's mouth. "Ya can't tell," Vin grinned down at the trapped gambler.
"Don't worry, Vin, I won't tell anyone ya slipped off the fence and broke yer leg," the man in black chuckled.
Vin let go of Ezra. "Damn!"
"You two musta been a real handful as kids," Chris mused out loud. Standish shrugged his shoulders, as did Vin.
"You two want to go to the saloon now?" Josiah asked.
"That would be a splendid idea," and Ezra climbed down from the hayloft, followed closely by Vin.
Sanchez draped an arm around Ezra's shoulder and pulled him closer. "So did yer uncle catch you?"
The gambler looked from Josiah to Chris and over to Vin, they all were waiting for him to answer. What the hell. "He wouldn't have," Standish valiantly declared, "except for when I came round the front of the house, I ran smack bang into Mother. Needless to say we left almost immediately after that incident."
The four men laughed as they exited the livery and were still susceptible to bouts of laughter as they entered the dim interior of the saloon.
Both Vin and Ezra pulled up and glared at the other two. "This is between us, no one else has to know!" Vin reasoned.
Josiah and Chris nodded and symbolically crossed their hearts.
Ezra turned to Vin as the older men crossed the room to take up seats at the table that Buck, Nathan and JD already shared. "They didn't have their fingers crossed did they?"
Just as Ezra posed his question to Vin, Buck JD and Nathan roared with laughter, and turned as one to look at Vin, only to burst out chuckling again. Josiah and Chris raised a glass in salute to both men. Ezra closed his eyes and groaned and he heard a similar lament from the tracker beside him.
"Ain't never gonna live this down," Tanner complained.
Fini