|
|
*****************************************
RATING: G
DISCLAIMER: Everything still belongs to someone else and they’re
making the money. Or
should be, if network executives had the brains their salary dictates
they should have.
NOTES: Another little ramblin, wish I could write like Adrian
or Nancy or Sue or Sarah or
Maggie but I can’t so I don’t. I just get these little
ideas in my head about how these characters
would be in their average little every day life and I think I would
like these guys. I bet they have
a great time on the set. Nice feedback appreciated, but remember there
is always the delete key.
backeracres@yahoo.com
******************************************
Inez set a hot plate of cakes and sausage in front of Chris, while Nathan
bent over a bowl of meal
and Josiah contemplated eggs. None of them was in a talkative
mood, mostly because it was
early and they were hungry. It was a relaxing silence, until Vin Tanner
burst through the batwing
doors, made a graceful leap up, onto and across the table they sat
at, his boots skimming the
table briefly next to their meal. Then he dropped silently into the
chair between Chris and
Nathan, with a worried look thrown to the still swinging doors. He
watched them until they
stopped their movement, then turned to his companions.
“Boys,” he nodded and gave the slightest of smiles.
Chris couldn’t remember if he’d ever seen Vin move that quickly unless
something was very
wrong, but he was also disgusted with the buffalo hunter’s dirty boots
on the table, albeit briefly,
with his food.He sat there, forked raised, staring at Vin,
while Nathan and Josiah did the
same.
Vin pushed back, hooked the chair leg into a plank on the floor, and
leaned back on two legs,
reached out and took a biscuit off Chris’s plate, and pulled his hat
down a little further. He
looked for all the world like he’d been sitting there all morning.
And that was what he was
counting on. His gaze returned to the doors.
Then they all heard Buck’s yelling. Or cursing, it was all pretty garbled,
and it was endless. They
could hear him approaching the saloon, and it sounded like he was looking
for JD.
“GODDAMMIT BOY I’LL HAVE YOUR HIDE!” Red faced, furious, Buck punched
open the
saloon doors and filled the lighted space between them. It occurred
to Vin that Buck looked
much bigger at that particular moment than Vin had ever considered
before.
“YOU ALL SEEN JD?” He hollered.
“Nope,” Josiah offered, then looked expectantly at Vin, who shook his
head innocently and took
another large bite out of Chris’s biscuit, chewing slowly and thoughfully.
Buck stood there for a moment, glaring at them, then turned back toward
the street and stomped
on up the boardwalk. Nathan, Chris and Josiah all turned to stare
at Vin.
“What you starin’ at?” Vin accused them, then dropped the half eaten
biscuit back on the plate,
rose and went to the door, where he looked up the street in the direction
Buck had headed.
“Might go ridin’ today, me and JD . . .” he turned back to Chris with
a grin spreading across his
face. “Yep, might be a good day for that.” And he slipped out the door
and was gone.
The three remaining men exchanged glances, then left their meals and
moved easily out onto the
boardwalk. The street was quiet, too quiet. To the north, they could
see Vin and JD with their
heads together, arguing about something. But the few other people on
the street were
looking south. At Buck.
Buck was moving slowly down the street, tugging heavily at the reins
on his grey, dragging the
horse down the street. He was so furious, his horse wasn’t wanting
to come near him, and he was
having difficulty getting it to follow. He didn’t see JD, because
he was just too mad. But his
grey wasn’t grey. It was . . . orange.
“Hey Buck,” someone shouted, “Your horse is orange!”
Ezra stepped out from across the street. “Rather, it appears to be a
burnt umber color, don’t you
think?” and he looked across at the other three.
“No, I think it’s orange, “ Nathan answered.
“Sienna?” Ezra countered.
“Nope, orange.” Josiah threw back.
Vin and JD had made their way quietly up the street until they stood
a little behind the three
larger men in the shadow of the balcony.
“’S’posed to be red.” JD shot a glare at Vin.
"It was dark, JD!" Vin shot back.
Chris turned to looked at the two younger men behind him. Their eyes
were on Buck and his
gelding. His orange gelding. Chris reached into his pocket and pulled
out a silver dollar. “Heads
up, “ he said, and tossed the coin towards Vin.
Vin’s hand shot out and caught the coin in the air. And in the light,
Chris could see his hands
were slighly . . . orange. Or umber. Or sienna. A grin passed
between them, when Vin realized
what Chris saw, then he stuffed the coin, and his hands, into
the pockets of his coat.
“Ain’t you boys goin’ riding?” Chris asked with a smile.
Buck was still fighting with his horse in the dirt street, encumbered
as he was with his anger, he
didn’t dare turn loose of the horse and he couldn’t come after JD and
Vin unless he tied up the
gelding.
“Yep.” They answered together, and trotted toward the livery.
“Kids.” Josiah grinned.
“Kids.” Nodded Chris, and smiled back, watching the his two friends
hurry up the street,
thinking of the kids they could have been but weren’t, but now maybe
still could be.
********************************************
The End
goto..Sequel: Black
