The Essence Of Time Chapter 6

The Essence Of Time

Chapter 6

Ezra was dismayed that no one seemed to believe him about the older boy that had helped him, but no one at the school knew of the boy he was speaking about. He, along with Timmy and Bob, found themselves in the principal’s office awaiting their parents’ arrival. Timmy’s nose had finally stopped bleeding, but his face was all puffy and he had two black eyes. He was supposed to go to the emergency room but his father insisted that he would take him on his own. Bob on the other hand still guarded his stomach, the waste basket beside him held what was left of his lunch from earlier that day. Ezra wrinkled his nose a bit that thought. School lunch was bad enough before it was even served, let alone brought back up after digestion had started to occur.

Looking up he spied his mom and dad making their way down the hall. His dad looked ready to shoot someone, but it was him mom that had the laser coming out of her eyes. Ezra was just glad her aim was on the two ruffians sitting in chairs beside him. Ezra schooled himself, he wasn’t sure what was going to happen. He felt his chin lifted and twisted gently.

“You alright son?”

He gave a quick nod, catching the strange jealous looks of the two boys awaiting their fathers. He didn’t know why they would feel jealous, it wasn’t like Chris was their father.

“Come on let’s go speak with the principal.”

Ezra found himself led into the forbearing office, from the giant desk to the giant man sitting behind it.

“Mr. and Mrs. Larabee, I’m sorry to have had to call you in about this today. Ezra and the two boys were fighting in the playground today. As I’m sure you could see Ezra inflected quite a bit of damage to the other boys. The boys said that Ezra attacked them for no reason. Ezra insisted that he was the one attacked and was helped by an older kid that nobody has ever seen before. I’m afraid we are going to have to suspend Ezra for fighting for a week.”

“Excuse me but one of those boys has been bullying my son for the past year and this school has done nothing to prevent this, and now he was attacked by two boys and you want to suspend him for defending himself. I don’t think so. If my son says that he was attacked and another boy helped him out than by all that is holy that is what happened!” Sarah was livid, how dare he try to pin this onto her son.

“Ezra” Chris got his son’s attention. “What did this boy look like?”

“He was older than me, a bit taller with longer curly brown hair and blue eyes. He talked with an accent too, but I can’t remember where I heard it before, just know I have heard it before.”

Ezra couldn’t believe it, his mom and dad believed him. Even though he still ended up on suspension, so did Timmy and Bob.

~~~~~~~7~~~~~~

It wasn’t until Ezra tried out for the baseball team the next year that he saw his school yard hero again. Ezra was amazed at how much the boy had changed over the past year. The boy had grown in height and build, and his hair had grown even longer.

He watched as the boy threw fast ball after fast ball and struck out the boy at bat. Ezra had just started to make his way over to the field the other boy was playing on when he heard his name called out to one of the fields for try outs. Throwing one more look at his hero he smiled and ran off to try and make the team.

A couple of hours later he stood nervously with the other boys that were trying out for the team and waited to see if his was one of the names called on this year’s roster.

It felt like hours as he heard other names called until he finally heard his name called. “Ezra Larabee, first base” he heard and then felt a blossom of warmth engulf him as he saw his parents and little brother cheering in the stands. He listened on as some of his other friends also made the team, but soon found his eyes locked on with his blue-eyed hero. The boy had a smug smile on his face as he relaxed on the edge of the crowd by the stands. He felt a smidgen of pride that his making the team pleased his hero.

He heard the coach finish listing the new team and releasing the boys until the weekend when they would have their first practice. Ezra quickly congratulated the other boys and started to make his way over to his hero. He really wanted to know his name and to thank him for his help so long ago.

He had barely made it halfway across the field before he was nearly barreled over by one very enthusiastic little brother. “Ezra you did it, you made the team. Wow that is so awesome. Can you believe it Dad, he even gots first base! Oh man wait till I tell everyone tomorrow. I can’t wait till next year and I can try out. You think we’ll be on the same team? Oh man that is so great…”

Ezra smiled and gave a little laugh as his biggest fan expounded on the virtues of his future baseball career. Looking back towards the stands he noticed his hero had disappeared and sighed inwardly at the missed opportunity.

Family Ties Part 22

Family Ties

Part 22:

The stage arrived early the next morning with Matt and Olivia Standish onboard. The elegant couple had seemed to charm the town from the moment they stepped foot onto the dusty street. It wasn’t long before the town was abuzz with the virtues of the lovely couple and what a great influence they would be for the young boy in the gunslinger’s care.

And it was those numerous virtues Chris was hearing about from Mary. “Oh they are such a lovely couple. It is really a shame they are unable to have children of their own. I think Ezra would flourish in such a loving home, with two loving adults waiting to be the stable parents he has always needed. Don’t you agree?”

Chris just grunted in response before tipping his hat and making his way towards the saloon for a drink he so badly needed this early in the morning. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be when he was interrupted in his destination by the little weasel Smithers and the oh so lovely couple waiting to steal his little brother away from his life.

“Oh Mr. Larabee, um sir, um good morning Mr. Larabee. May I introduce to you Matthew and Olivia Standish, little Ethan’s, um sorry I mean Ezri’s aunt and uncle.”

“Ezra” Chris corrected for what seemed the hundredth time in the last day.

“Oh yes yes, I don’t know why I can’t keep that straight, my apologies Mr. Larabee.”

“Mr and Mrs. Standish, a pleasure to meet you.” Yeah right, he thought to himself.

“Oh please it’s just Matt and Olivia. No reason for family to be so formal around each other, right Chris.”

Chris quirked an eyebrow at the familiarity the man took with him, but he was lax to start any complaining as he wanted everything to go smoothly for his little brother. It would do no good to anger the couple if Ezra ended up in their custody and he wanted visits. “Matt, Olivia”

“Oh Chris dear, have you seen young Ezra around? Why we’ve just been bursting with excitement to see our nephew after so long.”

Chris felt like he wanted to throw up with all the sugary sweetness this couple was pouring out. He couldn’t find anything that solidified the protective feeling he was getting, but for some reason he just wasn’t sure this couple had the best interest in mind for Ezra. “I’m sure he’s helping one of the others right now.”

“Oh Ezra has always been such a hard worker, I’m pleased to hear he hasn’t lost that fine quality as he has grown.”

Chris frowned at that statement, something was tingling at his nerve endings warning him of danger, but he just couldn’t grasp it. “When I see him, I’ll let him know you’d like to see him. If you’ll excuse me I have a meeting to get to.” Yeah a meeting with the bottom of a whiskey bottle. Damn.

~~~~~~~7~~~~~~~

Ezra had stationed himself on the roof of the saloon once he spotted the demons dressed up as family. He snorted as he watched them play the proper southern couple. Well he knew for certain the only thing proper about then was that they were southern. Upstanding citizens though, he knew the truth. Neither had a lot of money just barely keeping their plantation running by using work starved ex-slaves. He would work them from sun up to sun down, and all for a measly pay. It was no wonder that his uncle seemed to get a gleam in his eyes whenever Maude would drop him off for weeks or months at a time. After all, having free labor meant one less ex-slave to pay.

Ezra shuddered as he thought of the last time he spent with his aunt and uncle. He patted his pocket and reassured himself with the extra weight of the derringer back in his pocket. He hadn’t had time to find his arm rigging but it was his top priority before he ran into his aunt or uncle. He smiled to himself as he thought about Chris reaction when found out the derringer was back in his possession. He had to admit it was a good idea to give the small gun to Josiah to hide, but really Josiah wasn’t as cleaver as one southern child that was raised by one Maude Standish.

Frowning he wondered if his mother had known about her brother’s aggressive tendencies. She never seemed surprised when he left with bruises or in some cases broken bones. Mother had also seemed oblivious about it and only seemed disappointed if his appearance was affected.

Ezra’s shoulders slumped as he watched the shrewd couple work the town and turn them onto their side. It was starting to look like they would have the town standing behind them before the judge ever arrived. He had seen Mary gushing over the couple with his brother and then when the couple of conversation struck up a conversation with Chris he felt the bile rise in his throat. He watched as Chris head towards the saloon and knew that his chance to search their room for the rigging had arrived. Marking the direction his aunt and uncle headed in he made sure his route would take him far away from any chance of them running into each other.

~~~~~~7~~~~~~

Buck sighed as he watched his old friend slam another shot of whiskey back before slamming the empty glass on the table. It was plan to see the man was hurting, and Buck figured his friend was fighting with himself over the potential loss of another child in his life.

“That’s not going to help old dog.”

Chris shot his friend an evil glare before he sighed. “Yeah I know”

“Wanna tell me what’s got your feathers in a dander?”

“Don’t like it”

“What?”

“Them”

“Who, Ezra’s aunt and uncle?” He watched Chris sharply nod his head. “Why? Everyone seems to like them that I’ve spoken to. Can’t speak for myself, haven’t meet them yet.”

“Don’t know just don’t trust them.”

“Why not?”

“I just don’t think they have Ezra’s happiness in mind. Can’t tell you any specifics, but I just don’t trust ‘em.”

“Want me and the boys to keep an eye on them?”

Chris nodded his head again. Yeah keeping an eye on them would make him feel a bit better.

“I need to find Ezra, he seems to be hiding out today” Chris grinned, it was that more than anything else that had got his protective streak on high alert.

“I just saw him heading towards your room before I came in here.”

“Thanks” Chris stood and tossed some coins on the table before heading off towards his room.