Disclaimer: All the characters from the "Magnificent Seven" T.V. series are property of Trilogy Entertainment, The Mirisch Group, MGM Worldwide.
It seemed the more things changed, the more they stayed the same.
As the stagecoach rumbled into town, Billy Travis found himself thinking of the time that he had made this same journey almost twelve years ago before. Back then, coming home to Four Corners was not an event he looked forward to with any kind of excitement. There were demons in his youth that still lingered in his mind to this day but they had been the most potent when he came home to Four Corners for the first time since being sent away by his mother to Eagle Bend to live with his grandfather Orin Travis. He remembered spending most of the ride from Eagle Bend being terrified of what he would find when he reached the town, thinking with thoughts only a child could have of the evil that awaited him upon his arrival.
The man had called himself the devil and for the year preceding Billy's return to Four Corners, the child he had been lived in fear that some day the devil would find them both and visit upon them the same fate that he had bestowed upon Stephen Travis. Billy could not know that the devil was very human indeed and it was all a ruse to impress upon a frightened child the need to be silent about what he had witnessed the night he had watched his father die. It was only after Billy had returned home to Four Corners and helped bring the man to justice, did the nightmares stop. In doing so however, Billy found a new arrival in his life that was almost as precious to him as his father and the years ahead would supplant what memories he had of Stephen Travis.
As much as he loved his father and was proud to call himself Stephen Travis' son, the truth was Billy regarded Chris Larabee more in that role than the former. The adult in him understood that it was not Stephen's choice to die but the child in him still could not imagine anyone else being there when he remembered the focal points of his life during the past twelve years. He remembered riding his first horse, having his first crush, learning to shoot and all those other moments that led to manhood and could only remember Chris guiding him through all of it.
Thinking about his stepfather made Billy wonder where the man would be when he arrived in Four Corners. His arrival home was a day early but the opportunity to shorten his trip towards home and in doing so surprising those waiting for him was more than the devil in him could resist. With his return clearly unexpected, there would be no reason for Chris to be in town and Billy guessed he would probably be at the ranch. If time permitted when he got to Four Corners, Billy considered riding out there and seeing how the Lucky 7 ranch was progressing. Even though he had seen it only six months ago during his last trip home, Billy could not help examine everything about his hometown under deep scrutiny whenever he returned.
Billy glanced out the window as the stage broke the town limits and paid little attention to the other passengers in the carriage within the old Concord. He was far more interested in basking at the familiar sights of home and never tired of these first few minutes when the town of Four Corners suddenly sprung up around him. A part of him felt a little foolish, after all, he almost twenty years old, damn near to graduating from West Point Academy and yet whenever he came back home, he still felt like a little boy all over again.
The first thing he recognized was of course the Pemberton Emporium, still the largest mercantile establishment in the town nearly its largest employer, next to the farms and ranches that were scattered around the area. The place had been recently painted and renovated in order to add a few more buildings and Billy reminded himself to call in on its lovely owner, Julia Standish. Maybe even have a little ice cream, he thought with a smile at that fond memory, so distant in his mind. He had spent most of his youth dreaming about her. Hell, he had even challenged Ezra Standish to a game of go fish for her hand. Now, Billy wondered how he could have been so smitten to lose all good sense when his heart should have been elsewhere.
Not to far from the Emporium, Billy caught sight of Josiah's church, rebuilt after a fire had gutted it a few years ago. Instead of having to do the work himself after that catastrophe, as he had when he first put the original together, the restoration of Josiah's church had been a town effort with manpower and resources put at his disposal. Although the new church was very impressive with all the hallmarks that made it a place of worship, Billy still had the feeling that Josiah never stopped missing the church he had built with his own two hands when his faith had walked a troubled path.
Of course Josiah was not a man of the cloth in any real sense of the word but the people of Four Corners did not wish for anyone else to occupy the building and so Josiah had spent his time between the church and playing deputy to the town. However, if he was at neither place, it was mostly like he would be at home with Audrey King whom he had married a few years ago.
The stage rumbled past the jailhouse and Billy knew instinctively that Sheriff Dunne would be absent. The time of the day told the young man that the sheriff would most likely be making the rounds of town as he had done for much of the last decade. Of the seven, it was JD who had made peace keeping a career. However, whenever trouble blew into town with particularly nasty overtones, the sheriff could always be counted upon to have the support of five unofficial and one official deputy to watch his back. When JD had first taken up the post, most of the town were certain that he would never be able to manage on his own. Still with Josiah's wise counsel and the other members of the seven keeping a close eye in case he got into trouble, JD soon grew into the role and made it his own. Eventually, he gained a decent reputation as a lawman and that reputation had more to do with keeping trouble away then the six men who would die to protect him.
The stage finally came to a stop with a slight shudder of the carriage and Billy could hear the slight jingle of reins and bits as the driver began to disembark from the top of the old Concord. Billy did not wait for the man to open the door, stepping out of the small confines into the sunlight. The air smelt as it always did, piquant with heat that seemed to warm every part of him upon breathing it into his lungs. He squinted the sun out of his eyes as he stepped onto the boardwalk that ran past the Standish Hotel.
Dusting off his coat as he looked inside the glass window of the hotel saloon, he did not see Ezra and was not expecting to. Despite having won the place some years ago, Ezra still preferred to hold court in the Standish Tavern on the other side of the street. While some might ponder why the gambler would remain playing in an establishment, which was not exactly luxurious as the saloon in the hotel, Billy supposed they just did not know Ezra. Even though the gambler had invested much of his earnings into property, there was no doubt that the first place he owned was the one he loved the most.
Billy glanced at the Standish Tavern and wondered if he should call in because he would not mind a drink after the long journey, besides he would not mind saying hello to Inez and Ezra if the gambler was there. However, he soon reminded himself that there were other people he had to see first and the promise of libations as Ezra put it could wait. Besides, he was hungry and like most young men who went away from home, what he wanted more than anything was a taste of his mother's cooking. Grabbing the carpetbag that was unloaded from the top of the stagecoach, Billy offered the usual gratuity and started heading for home.
A few people greeted him as he walked past, Gloria Potter commented that he had grown so much even though he was the same height as he had been when she last saw him six months ago. He half listened to some piece of gossip regarding one of the Patterson girls being married before politely excusing himself and continuing on his way. He paused outside Gloria's store for a moment when he saw a little boy, not quite six years old working a piece of wood with a knife and being very careful about it even though his small hands had more dexterity than it might normally appear for someone his age. Billy smiled at the small boy with dark gold hair, shaping the wood into what was apparently a horse of some kind.
"Hey there Kyle." Billy greeted.
The boy turned around and exclaimed. "Billy! You're home!" Dropping what he was doing, the little boy was in his arms in a second, embracing his older brother hard.
"What are you doing out here on your own? I didn't think you were big enough to let out of ma's sight." Billy asked as he swooped down and lifted Kyle up with ease over his shoulder and swung him around in a neat circle, making the young boy chucked in delight.
"I'm big enough!" Kyle protested. "Pa's been teaching me how to cut."
"I'll bet," Billy grinned but also knew something else too. "But I'm pretty sure Chris will tan your hide if he found you doing it without him around. You're a might too little be playing with knives without supervision." At that he ruffled Kyle's hair even though the boy was giving him a rather guilty look. It was an expression that Billy could not resist and added a moment later. "But if you give me that knife, I'm sure we can work something out."
Kyle brightened immediately and Billy wondered if he was ever that young and was he ever so foolish? Then again, he was the eight-year-old, who challenged a professional gambler to a game of go fish, so he supposed he should not be throwing stones through his glass house.
"So where's Mike?" Billy asked as they continued the journey up the boardwalk.
"He's gone to play with Ellie Rose, Tommy and Peter." Kyle frowned. "He said me and Sarah was too little to play with them."
If he knew his younger brother with any kind of accuracy this usually meant that they were getting into some kind of trouble they could not risk a six year old knowing in case something went wrong, Billy thought inwardly. They reached the front door that led to the Clarion New which still remained in the same place, in the same building where he had grown up and where Chris and Mary Larabee had raised their family. Kyle did not wait for him as the young boy saw home and immediately bounded through the front door of the Clarion's Office.
"Kyle Larabee," Mary's voice sang through the door as Billy stepped into the familiar front office that he had known most of his life. "You better have a good reason for running in like this, what did I tell..."
"Look whose home ma!" Kyle cried out, certain that his announcement would wash away all sins.
"Billy!" Mary Larabee rose from behind her desk, closely followed by his young sister Sarah. Mary never seemed to change as she crossed the floor towards her first born, embracing him warmly as only a mother could. She was still a handsome woman at the age of forty-two, with no signs of letting time catch up with her at any time soon.
"You weren't supposed to be here until tomorrow," Mary gushed happily as she pulled away from her son after that heartfelt embrace. Each time she saw him, he seemed to grow taller and older as if time was an hourglass that was slipping by so fast she had no idea when the moments were shifting for the blur before her.
"I thought I'd surprise you." He grinned and hugged his mother again, unable to believe how smelling her rose water perfume in his lungs could make him feel so safe and secure again, even as full grown man.
"Well I'm not complaining," Mary laughed.
"Hi there Sarah." Billy stepped past her and took close stock of the little girl that was staring shyly at him. She was not more than three and her memory for faces must have been vague, especially one who she had last seen six months ago, an eternity of time for a child her age. She was a picture. If the Larabee boys took after their father, then Sarah was all Mary. With the same flaxen hair and doe colored eyes, she seemed more like a fairy child than one of flesh and blood.
She blushed at him and immediately took cover behind Mary's long skirt. Mary shrugged her shoulders and picked up her youngest, who immediately buried her face in the crook of her mother's arm and stole quick glances at him at brief intervals.
"She's a little shy." Mary said kissing Sarah on the cheek.
Suddenly the door swung open and the one person Billy wanted to see almost as much as his family breezed into the office, chattering wildly without pause. "Mary, I'm sure something is going on with those supposed prospectors, I don't think they're carrying anything that looks remotely like mining equipment."
Lilith King paused in mid step as she saw Billy and her words died in her throat as a bright smile replaced her astonished look. She wore her hair loose because no matter how much she tried to style it ornately as women of the day tended to do, it always seemed to look freshly tousled until she gave up altogether and wore it as it ought to be worn, unencumbered by pins and ribbons. Her electric colored eyes seemed to sparkle upon seeing him and that radiant gaze had the power to melt him where he stood. Billy was not sure who took the first step but in a tangle of arms, he swept her into his arms and greeted her with a warm, affectionate kiss.
"Yuck!" Billy heard Kyle cry out in the background as he kissed Lilith and wondered how it was it felt like only yesterday since he had last seen her.
"Kyle," Mary gave her young son a stern look but could not feel at all annoyed when she saw the intensity of the reunion between her oldest and his soon to be wife.
"You weren't supposed to be back until tomorrow." Lilith spoke when they had finally parted. "You said in your letter the 15th, tomorrow is the 15th." She insisted.
"Well I can leave," he teased. "Unless you know of some other poor guy who wants to marry you."
"I know lots," Lilith said tempestuously pretending mock indifference when they both knew perfectly well how they felt about each other and their coming marriage. "But if you're not going to show then I think I could just be happy being the Clarion's star reporter."
"But you're the only reporter." Billy said with a smirk and earned a sharp poke in the gut in retaliation.
"Okay you two," Mary finally broke in, rolling her eyes in weariness at watching the duo in their verbal jousting. It seemed strangely familiar somehow. "I think the paper can wait while I make us all some lunch."
"Make pie ma!" Kyle supported her suggestion most enthusiastically.
"I could eat," Billy threw Lilith a sly look. "If it wasn't for the food, I wouldn't have any reason to come back at all."
"You just wait...." Lilith glared at him through narrowed eyes.
Mary shook her head as the duo started again and found herself thinking once more.
Definitely familiar.
"This is not a good idea," Elena Rose Wilmington declared. She had good reason to be concerned seeing the clear contents of the beaker change into a sickly shade of yellow, just before smoke of the same color began billowing out past the rim. The foul smelling cloud whose stench resembled that of rotten eggs quickly coming to a stop at the ceiling and spreading outwards to fill the room with its stomach turning odor.
Elena Rose could always tell whenever Mike Larabee was going to get her into a whole heap of trouble and this time was proving to be no exception. Although she was six months older than him and approaching almost twelve years of age, Elena Rose always noticed that she always seemed to go along with whatever hair brained scheme he conjured up in his mind. Inwardly, she knew she ought to be doing what other girls her age were doing, getting ready for the inevitable arrival of puberty and all the angst with it. Elena found it discerning to see the change taking place as the baby fat started to bleed out of her cheeks and that tanned skin that had always set her apart from the pretty white girls, with the exception of Samantha Tanner, now made her look exotic rather than different.
However, a part of her refused to give up her childhood just like, just as she steadfastly refused to give up the friends she shared it with.
"Trust me, this will work." Thomas Josiah Jackson, or Tommy as he was known, assured the older girl as he continued to add a yellow powder to the mix. "I seen my pa do this a hundred times!" Tommy was not quite nine years old but he was already nearly as tall as Mike. While his looks came mostly from his mother, Tommy's intellect though sometimes flawed as Elena was suspecting this occasion was about to prove, was formidable enough. He had inherited his father's sharp mind while it was not an interest in healing that inspired him but rather a passion for the sciences of the physical world, the same devotion could be said of the younger Jackson as the senior.
The devotion which was terribly apparent as the young boy continued to make his potion, encouraged by the audience of his best friends who were gathered around the big workbench that served as the make shift apothecary where Nathan Jackson created some of his more exotic medicinal concoctions.
"Doctor Jackson has reason to make stuff to stink out the school house?" Michael Larabee looked at the would be chemist who had swore empathetically, he knew just the perfect brew to fill up the school house so nothing would remove the stench for a week and thus keep the establishment close. At the time, it seemed like such a good idea. Summer was approaching and the last few days of school was a torture that he could do with out, which was why he had deliberated upon this plan to save them from its ministrations so they could get an early start to their vacation. It had been for a noble cause and Michael or Mike as he preferred to be called by everyone save his father, who could silence any objection he made upon the subject with a glare, had felt it worthy of the undertaking.
Just like his father, the eyes were the most telling thing about the oldest Larabee child although he was considered by most to be the middle child, having been supplanted of that position by his brother Billy whom he loved and could never imagine as anything else but kin. Deep intense eyes that seemed to cut through anything they gazed upon, he had the same dark gold hair and the mannerism that made him the undisputed leader of among his childhood companions when they were all gathered in one place. Three of their number was missing but then knowing, Alex, Penny and Adam, they were probably off somewhere engaged in an undertaking almost as ambitious as the one he had inspired Tommy to take up.
"No," Tommy retorted giving him a look, catching the sarcasm in Mike's voice. "He's made other stuff just like this, except it didn't stink and probably wouldn't smoke either."
"We're gonna get caught." Peter Standish remarked with atypical skepticism and pessimism. Unlike his twin sister Penny who was the more flamboyant of the two in her desire to become a famous actress, Peter was more interested in building things. Although the very notion of using his hands for such an endeavor had almost given his father a stroke upon first hearing it, the senior Mr Standish had eventually resigned to the fact that he had raised not a gambler but rather an inventor. It was hard not to be impressed with Peter with his penchant for ideas that had nothing to do with the con as Ezra Standish had been so raised but rather in tangible creations that had the mark of potential genius upon it.
"We should have gone with my idea." He repeated himself for the umpteenth time and seemed to shorten the interval of reminding them even more since Tommy's concoction had started to take on a life of its own.
"I am not at any point in time, going searching for termites to infest the school." Elena Rose said firmly staring at him distastefully with her hands on her hips in definitive objection to the idea. "Knowing our luck it probably wouldn't do any good until the summer was over and then collapse the school in winter so we'd have to sit outside in the cold to do our lessons."
The boys exchanged a look before Peter remarked. "So how is this a bad thing?"
"I am not collecting bugs!" Elena Rose insisted and garnered a look from all males that said one thing and one thing only.
Girls!
"I'm telling you it would work! That building is so old, all we got to do is put in the some of the beams and its' done!" Peter continued to plead his case and seemed even more determined now that the signs of eminent disaster was looming so closely.
"Look I think we have a problem." Mike said watching the rising cloud with just as much anxiety at the sight of the thickening fog that was being forced back down by the obstruction of the ceiling to encompass the rest of the room. He could start to feel the noxious fumes sting his eyes not to mention the overpowering smell that was nearly capable of gagging. "Why is it smoking like that?" The leader of the quartet asked with an expression on his face that was very much his father if anyone had taken the time to notice.
"Oh that's just the gunpowder." Tommy remarked relatively unconcerned, more focussed on his observation regarding the progress of the experiment before him rather than the end results.
"Gun powder?" The other three said in unison.
"Yeah gives it a little kick." The young chemist smiled triumphantly.
"A little kick!" Mike said aghast and turned his eyes back to the beaker whose clear glass walls were darkening from the heat of the Bunsen burner upon which it was perched. The liquid inside was not only billowing thicker clouds of smoke but was also starting to bubble dangerously. Swearing under his breath because he knew what was coming, he looked at his younger companions and acted quickly.
"Tommy turn down that fire!" He barked loudly before turning to Elena Rose and Peter, "the rest of you, out of here now!"
"What's wrong?" Elena questioned, seeing the fear in his eyes.
"Don't argue," Mike retorted. "Just go!"
"Hey," Peter was still staring at the beaker frothing its liquid into the fire and doing a better job of extinguishing the flame then Tommy's attempt to turn of the gas was feeding the blue heat beneath it. "I think its going to...."
He never quite got a chance to answer because the beaker chose that moment to explode, sending glass and hot liquid in all directions. The sound of glass cracking had made Mike react instantly, pulling his friend out of the line of fire as projectiles both solid and liquid sprayed outward. Peter stumbled back, lost his footing and fell into Mike, downing them both. Elena Rose made a wild attempt to stop his descent and in turn was pulled to the floor with the weight of two boys attempting to use her in support. They both landed on her. In the meantime, Tommy Jackson was crouched beneath the desk, having dived there for safety after the minor explosion.
The destruction of the beaker allowed its content to spill over the flame and extinguish it but not without first igniting the wet particles of gunpowder. Some of the spray had touched his clothes and though he had not been cut by glass, could feel pin pricks of scalding pain where the liquid had seeped through his clothes. Fortunately, he incurred no other greater injury than that.
"Get... off... me!" Elena Rose demanded with indignant rage as the three children shook themselves out of the stupor they were in following their failed endeavors.
Peter moved off first because he was pining Mike down by his legs and quickly assessed by the damage and the state of the room that they were not going to be able to hide this with any success.
"You okay?" Mike turned to Elena Rose immediately, watching the lovely young girl toss strands out of her face the way he liked watching her do, when she was not looking. Each time he did that, his heart seemed to pound louder in his chest and it felt as if he could not breathe. Even though he was eleven years old, Mike knew without doubt that some day Elena Rose would be his wife. He knew that as certainly as the sun came up in the morning and as surely as the sun set at night. Of course, she did not know that yet but he was sure, it would come to her one of these days.
He just had to be patient.
"I'm fine." Elena Rose retorted, completely unhappy with the situation once she sighted the mess that Peter was surveying with growing dismay. "Before my mom sends me to my room for all time because of this stupid idea of yours, do you have any thoughts on how we're going to explain this?"
"We're so dead." Peter added his own assessment of their situation. "I'll never see the light of day again."
"What are you two worried about?" Mike grumbled. "You don't have Chris Larabee for you dad."
"You know...." Tommy emerged from under the table and examined the wreckage of his experiment. "Maybe the gunpowder wasn't such a good idea."
"That's it!" Mike growled and took a step towards him, with clear menace in his eyes. However, the rendering was cut short by an even angrier exclamation when the door to the workroom swung open and Nathan Jackson's voice sounded through the room.
"What the hell is going on down here?" The doctor demanded taking a step into the room and then sniffing the air to remark. "What's that stink?"
Technically, it was still spring if one wanted to get terribly specific about dates and seasons. However, late spring in the Territory was almost as good as early summer to all those creatures, who lived within its region, be they human or not. On this occasion, a quartet of coyote cubs newly grown strong enough to leave the den, were making their latest excursion out of the cave to explore the larger world beyond it. Although the markings of canis lantrans was evident in every shade of tan on their pelts, at the moment the cubs did not at all look like their fearsome adult counterpart. If anything, they looked like puppies, with big feet and round furry bodies.
They played the games of the pack, spoke a language so old and unfathomable to men that creatures of the land and pure wild instinct could only decipher it. Had they been older like the she coyote who bore them and was presently making the hunt to bring home sustenance, they would have been able to see the colors of warm bodies laying in wait, watching them with delight not so different from their own childish play.
The three human children watching from a safe distance behind a collection and shrubbery and rocks, did not share similar markings. If anything, each was worlds a part. The leader of the trio, a young girl of nine with long jet hair always worn loose under an old beaten hat, a prized possession because it was one owned by her father, watched the proceedings with cobalt colored eyes. Through years of teaching and listening from two very intelligent parents in their own different fields, she was product of their union in every way.
"Sam, are you sure this is safe?" Her companion, a stark contrast in resemblance asked with a hushed voice. Deep emerald eyes stared with a mixture and fear and fascination at the play of the creatures before them. Where the former was everything untamed and wild, she was everything that was delicate and precious. She was the kind of child that captured attention wherever she went and always seemed comfortable in Sunday clothes where other children would be struggling to escape them. Biting her full lips with concern as she continued to enjoy the moment, Penelope Maude Standish, brushed a strand of dark gold hair from her face as she waited for one of her best friends in the world.
"What if their mom comes back?" The last member of the triumvirate inquired. He was a little younger than the two girls but still stood shoulder to shoulder with Sam who had inherited her parent's bone structure. Although he was the son of the sheriff, he did not at all look like his father nor for that matter wished to be like his father whom he adored. Named Adam because Chris Larabee had remarked upon a passing resemblance to a child lost in the distant past, his most notable features were a pair of steel rimmed glasses he always held poised over an open book. Even though kids in school liked to call him names, four eyes being most notable even though they risked being trashed properly by Sam or Mike Larabee which ever came first, Adam did not really mind living in books. However, the two girls with him and the other four friends who were absent were the only reason why he might venture out from the world of the fictional into the world of reality.
"Don't worry," Sam frowned giving them both a look. "I've been watching them for the last two days now, she always comes back just before dark."
"What if she comes back early?" Penelope or Penny as she loathed being called by everyone except her father asked, defying Sam to answer that question. While she could not deny seeing the animals was quite something, she was also afraid. Once again, she asked herself how Sam always seemed to talk her into these crazy stunts. She still remembered the fright they got when Sam convinced her to climb up this tree to see some dumb bird's nest only to have the mother bird come back and almost peck her eyes out in their rapid attempt to reach the ground. Adam had lost another pair of glasses after that particular adventure.
However if truth be know, Penny had this oddest feeling that even when she was a glamorous actress treading the boards in the far away future, Sam would still be able to drag her to the woods on one of her crazed ideas for adventure.
"She will if you two don't stop jabbering." Sam huffed, wondering how she could be saddled with two such nervous friends. "I thought you'd want to see this?"
"I do," Adam pushed his glasses further up his nose. "I just don't want to become supper."
"You won't," Sam said impatiently. "Besides, she'll only eat one of us."
"It's not going to be me." Penny declared, "I am going to be an actress some day, like Lily Langtry so I don't plan on getting killed any time soon." She said this with the voice of true lady, holding her chin up as she spoke.
"Neither do I," Adam agreed in return. "I'm going to be the world's greatest writer so nothing better happen to me. You're the only one who wants to stay out here in the woods Sam. If she eats you, it won't be that much of a loss."
"The next time someone calls you four eyes," Sam gave him a look. "I'm not going to come to your rescue."
"If you showed me how to use that sling of yours, I wouldn't need your help." Adam retorted just as defiantly.
"The last time I showed you how to use my sling, you broke one of the church windows!" Sam said exasperated remembering how they had been forced to explain to Uncle Josiah what they had been doing. Worse yet after explaining to Josiah what they had done, they had to tell their parents.
Now that was real punishment.
"It wasn't my fault," Adam cried out. "My hand slipped. I'll do better this time, I promise."
Sam frowned, not liking the idea of giving Adam such a dangerous weapon. She loved him like she loved Penny but he was just no good with anything physical. His world was one of books and stories and many was the night that she and all the others would listen to him tell the tales he sometimes made up or read from a book. Perhaps it was knowing there was so many worlds going on inside his head that made the others want to protect him. Of course, it was hard for him too. Wearing glasses was bad enough but the oldest son of the sheriff as well as near sighted made him an easy target for bullies If it wasn't for her or Mike Larabee, Sam was sure he'd be getting beat up a lot more than he was now.
"Okay," Sam finally conceded. "But this time we do it at the ranch," she declared. "That way nothing is gonna get broke."
"Hey," Penny suddenly spoke up. "Where did they go?"
"Where did what go?" Sam asked distractedly.
"The cubs."
Her eyes snapped front away from Adam and she saw that the cubs were indeed gone and there was only one place they could have disappeared to; inside the cave because they could sense the return of their mother and were waiting to be fed.
"Oh no!" Sam exclaimed and quickly got to her feet. "We have to go!"
"Why?"
A low growl behind them ended that question for Penny far more efficiently than Sam was capable of giving answer. The three children spun around and saw a rather irate she coyote bearing her inch long teeth with attack in her yellow eyes.
"Run!" She shouted at Penny and Adam who needed no more encouragement than that as they made a mad dash towards safety. They had been watching the proceedings from a rather sharp hill and their descent was nowhere as steady as their initial journey as they skidded down the soft earth, pulling dead leaves and whatever else had accumulated on the surface as they ploughed towards the ground. It had rained a last night so the ground was still wet and as they slid down, creating a small avalanche of debris and mud as they progressed, the she coyote quickly felt into the pursuit.
"She's still behind us!" Penny screamed as they reached the foot of the hill and saw the less than ceremonious descent had given them a few seconds lead time but not much.
"Follow me!" Sam shouted almost as panicked as she broke through the underbrush, knowing exactly where she was going and hoping that it was enough to convince the coyote from maintaining the chase. Behind her, she could hear Penny and Adam following her closely, their fear allowing them to keep up for once while even more distant behind her, the soft pads against dry grass told her how quickly the predator behind them was gaining.
It was almost heaven sent when the sound of water running finally broke through the pounding of their terrified hearts and the creek came into sight. Seeing the waterway gave them a burst of speed and running faster than they had ever run before, they kept running until they ran out of land and plunged into the welcome waters of the considerably deep creek. The three made a loud splash as they hit the surface, creating large ripples in water as they disappeared beneath its depths for a split second before the natural instinct to begin kicking brought them back to top.
Upon breaking the surface of the water, they saw the coyote staring at them from the water's edge, trying to decide whether they were worth the effort to make an attempt to pursue into the water. After a few minutes, the creature decided against it and retreated into the scrub once again, unhappy about leaving her cubs unprotected for any length of time. When the body of tan disappeared into the greenery, all three children let out a sigh of relief.
"Is everyone okay?" Sam asked, looking at her friends who had yet to have spoken.
"I think I lost my glasses." Adam complained and sure enough as Sam and Penny looked at his squinting face, the sight of those familiar steel rimmed glasses were nowhere to be seen.
"Can you still see?" Penny inquired with concern. The trio were not quite confident enough to stray out of the water just yet and Sam responded by diving into the depths once again, trying to find the glasses in question through the murky water.
"I think so," Adam replied, even though she was a blur in front of him. "My pa's gonna be so mad at me losing another pair." The boy said unhappily.
"Tell me about it," Penny could sympathize, when she thought what state she would be in when she went home. "At least this time when I go home in a mess, I'll be a clean mess."
"Michael Vin Larabee, what on earth were you thinking?" Mary Larabee demanded as she stared at her son who utterly reeked of god only knows what he had been playing with when he and his friends had blown up Nathan's laboratory. "You could have gotten yourself killed! Don't you know how dangerous Nathan's chemicals can be and gun powder?" The editor of the Clarion News stared at her second born, hands on her hip as she frowned in disapproval.
"Oh come on ma," Billy who had been in the kitchen as Mike got his dressing down. "No one got hurt and I'm sure how badly he stinks is lesson enough." Just as it had been when they were children, the urge to protect his younger brother came naturally and Billy knew that with just enough pressure, he could persuade his mother to let the matter rest without putting Mike through any further ordeal. At the corner of the door that led to the rest of the house, he could see two sets of anxious eyes peering at the proceedings. Kyle knew well enough to stay out of his mother's way when she was angry and little Sarah was warned away just by Mary's voice.
Billy threw a little wink at Mike as he made that entreaty. "Besides, I don't want my homecoming to be spoiled by you being mad at Mikey." He smiled sweetly at his younger brother, seeing him bristled at being called by what Mike termed to be a 'baby name'.
"I seemed to be outnumbered." Mary gave them both a look when suddenly the kitchen door opened and Chris Larabee made his appearance.
Suddenly, Chris Larabee's voice responded. "I don't think so."
Billy and Mike both stared at their father who was leaning by the door way where his younger children had been taking refuge, arms folded with an expression that was a cross between amusement and smug.
Billy looked at Mike long enough to say, "you're on your own."
Sam had a plan.
It was a good plan. There was a tree next to her bedroom window and the deduction in her mind was that if she could just make it up there without anyone noticing, she might just get away with having to explain why she was in the state of wet that she was currently in. She saw no signs of her father anywhere because when it came to stealthy approaches, she was good but he was a whole lot better. Vin Tanner had this infuriating ability to spot everything that went on in the Lucky 7 ranch even though he appeared nowhere in the vicinity when it was taking place. Mom was easy to get around, mostly because she would be in the house tending patients as she was likely to do at this time of the day.
However, the danger was still her father.
At this time of day, he would be just about finished with the horses and might be on his way to the house, if not already there. Sam knew she could not afford to waste a lot of time as she quickly scaled up the thick branches of the tree. After so many years, she was nearly on intimate knowledge with each limb of the large elm tree that the house had been built next to after the original shack had been burnt in a fire or something.
It did not take long for her reach the top. Sam paused long enough to enjoy a brief view of the Lucky 7 ranch which always seemed like the entire world until she stepped past the main gates and viewed the one her father had showed her almost from the day she was born. She took a breath of air and confessed to enjoying the day, despite its questionable outcome. Climbing through the windowsill, she stepped onto the floor of her bedroom with a great deal of satisfaction at her success until she heard a slow languid drawl behind her.
"Now I know I built a perfectly good door for you and your ma so I'm wondering why you're climbing up a tree to get into the house."
Sam turned around to see her father, waiting patiently for her as he sat down on her bed. "Did I even have a chance of getting past you daddy?"
"No," Vin Tanner said with a smile. "Not really."
"I will one day you know," she returned, exuding that one bit of defiance before she had to explain herself.
"We'll see," the once tracker casting his daughter and affectionate look even though she was still in trouble. "Now quit stalling and start talking."
"What in God's name is that awful stench?" Ezra Standish asked as he walked through his front door and was confronted with a smell that had no words.
"Ezra is that you?" Julia's voice sang out with more than just a hint of annoyance. The once gambler, now supposedly honest business man knew without a doubt that only his children could inspire so much ire in his wife and wondered what mischief they had gotten into this time. Despite the fact that parental obligation would make it necessary for him to punish them, Ezra could not deny that he enjoyed his children immensely. He thought gambling was unpredictable and exciting. However, upon the arrival of his twins, Ezra had realized that he had not the slightest concept of the word.
"Daddy, it wasn't my fault!" Penny came running out of the main parlor of the house wrapped in a towel, her hair was damp across her face, her clothes were dripping wet and yet it was not from her that the terrible smell was emanating.
"What's not your fault my darling girl?" He asked as she came to a stop in front of him with that pout on her face which he was never able to resist or punish even when she had committed some transgression that clearly warranted the action.
"That I got chased by that coyote." She replied.
"Coyote?" Ezra's eyes widened and lowered himself to his knees so that he could see for himself that she was not hurt by a closer observation. "Pray tell when did you come across such a beast?"
"When we were spying on her babies." Penny answered, unable to lie to her father. He was too good at seeing through it and besides, they had no secrets from each other. "We only wanted to look."
Ezra did not need to hear more. "Shall I guess that you were with young Samantha when you chose to undertake this endeavor?"
Her gaze drop guiltily to the rug before her and more or less answered his question. He was angry at neither knowing that Samantha was Vin Tanner's child right down to the core and he could fault neither child for wanting a little adventure. Besides, at this moment he was more interested in that nauseating stench that was filling his nose again. "What is that odor?"
"That's Peter." Penny declared, "he, Mike, Tommy and Elena Rose blew up Uncle Nathan's lab!"
"I did not!" Peter shouted, hearing enough of their conversation from the kitchen when his mother was presently trying to scrub the stomach turning stench of sulfur dioxide from his skin and in turn remove its blight from her happy home. "It was Tommy who blew up the lab! I wanted them to use termites because it would have eaten up the wood in the school house in no time."
Ezra was in mid smirk at that statement when suddenly he heard Julia repeat herself. "Ezra Standish, I really think you need to talk to your children!"
"I suppose I could not convince you to forget you saw me run out of the house?" Ezra threw her Penny a pleading look.
"Sorry daddy," Penny shrugged. "I'm in enough trouble as it is."
"Unfortunately," Ezra let out a sigh as he went to assume his paternal responsibilities. "That seems to be the usual state of affairs for those born with the Standish name."
Elena Rose learnt very early on in life that it was good to have a second language.
In fact, by the time she was five years old, she was able to identify all the expletives her mother would often use whenever she was angry even though Elena Rose confessed to hearing none of it when in the presence of Inez Wilmington. This situation was no exception as evidenced when she sat in a tub not unlike the one that Peter Standish was presently enduring, hearing a litany of expletives coming from her mother's lips in response to Inez's outrage at her coming home smelling like a basket of rotten eggs.
Of course, it did not help that her father, former rogue, now respectable rancher Buck Wilmington had found the entire situation exceedingly amusing even though he had lifted nary a finger to prevent Inez from scolding her daughter for her behavior, did nothing to aid in her punishment either. Elena Rose did not think it would be long after she had been sent to bed, usually without supper for such a crime, before her father would come sneaking in with something he had kept hidden just for her.
Despite hearing her mother's annoyance as Inez washed her hair, Elena Rose could not help but look forward to those occasions when her father would sneak into her room and make her feel better, usually bringing cake. He was never very good at being the disciplinarian, Elena Rose decided and his manner seemed very reminiscent of Mike and the boys she had spent her childhood with, even though her father was supposed to be a grown up.
"Now my little Rose," Inez said after a while, finally calming down long enough to take stock of the situation and remembering all those foolish things she had done as a child. "Try not to do this again?"
Inez softened considerably as she was suddenly beset with images of a helpless babe that was now this young girl poised to becoming a woman. Where had the time gone? "And one other thing."
"Yes mama?" Elena Rose cast her an apologetic look because nothing made her feel more like Inez's daughter then being referred to as her mother's little rose.
Inez looked at her with a smile. "What kind of cake would you like your father to sneak you in tonight?"