Hey guys! Long time no posting, I know. Who knew senior year would be so hard? (Ignores fact that it's mostly procrastination making it hard)
I've actually got a couple new wips and some halfish finished one shots, but I know I'm already torturing you guys making you wait for chapters on other things (many of them are half-written also, fyi, just not there yet), so I'm trying not to post them-which leads me to this, which is all but finished. I've got two scenes left to write, and it's done, so I decided to share the first chapter of this short piece.
This started out with my being assigned to read Blake's A Marriage of Heaven and Hell (which is both interesting and very funny in a dark way), and getting to the proverbs part and being like, wow, can you imagine Josiah's reaction to Ezra saying some of these to him? Hmmm...the time period fits alright for Old West, and my YP Josiah is a collector of books...and then just having fun. The plot snuck up on me out of nowhere, trying to think of non-gambling or non dangerous things for Ezra to be trying to get his way on. This is meant to be a bit silly, and a bit fun, and I hope you all enjoy it.
Just as I don't own Magnificent Seven, I don't own the proverb from Blake or the verse from Lord Byron's She Walks in Beauty.
*.*.*.*.*.*
His face was meant to be convincing, but Josiah could see the stubbornness in it, even as he kept half an eye on the long board he was planing, drawing his tool evenly back and forth, small shavings of yellow wood collecting at his feet. "Ezra, I've told you three times, my answer isn't going to change-though my patience is starting to run out-, *no*."
Huffing and making no effort to hide it-hopefully that meant the boy had realized he wasn't going to persuade him, but he wouldn't be holding his breath-Ezra drew himself up so his back was as straight as the two rows of pews he stood between, straightening his red jacket, and, voice bold, declared, just slightly scornful, "As the caterpillar chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs on, so the priest lays his curse on the fairest joys."
Josiah paused. He let go of the plane, letting it rest on the board, and turned his face and attention fully on the boy, straightening from where he'd been half bent over. "What did you say to me, son?" If he hadn't known the boy as well as he had, the slight shift in posture, the tiny bob of the adam's apple showing his nervousness would have gone unnoticed, but the preacher saw them. Good. A little bit of defiance was one thing, disrespect was another.
"Ah was merely using a quote from Blake to lend emphasis to mah argument. While Ah will allow that your concerns are not entirely based on moral grounds, they are certainly a strong component of your refusal, and Ah believe if you would truly listen to mah argument you would see that such a meeting would actually be a credit to mah moral character and development." Ezra's voice was more defensive than remorseful, still thinking he had a chance at getting his way, and Josiah raised an eyebrow at him, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I know it's from Blake, I lent you the book. You thought that quoting that particular proverb would convince me?"
"Well, Ah believe that-", Ezra's voice had taken on the tone that meant that he was grasping for his words, making up the argument as he went along-and while that was a particular skill of his, it was not something that Josiah cared to listen to at the moment.
"Enough, Ezra. My answer isn't going to change, and I will not be happy if you keep arguing with me." Josiah made sure his unhappiness was clear in his voice, and while he wasn't particularly surprised at the scowl he got at that, he sure wasn't thrilled about it either.
"Fine, if you will not engage in a rational discussion of mah proposal, Ah will take mah leave." Ezra picked his hat up off pew back it had been resting on as Josiah nodded, choosing not to call him on the 'rational discussion' comment, and picking the wood plane back up.
"Alright, I'll see you at the saloon later."
Having clearly gotten a different response to his statement than he had hoped for, back still stiff, Ezra only nodded, and turned around in a manner Josiah was sure he thought was dignified, but unless pouting could be in that category definitely wasn't. Shaking his head, he bent back over his work. He got where the boy was coming from, had certainly done his fair share of crazy things for romance-the last hadn't been that long ago, Josiah reminded himself with a grimace. Still, it was simply too far for him to go on his own, and even if one of the others would have been willing to go with him and Chris okayed it Josiah wasn't sure it was a good idea.
"I sure as heck never heard a proverb like the one Ez was spoutin' before." Nathan's deep voice came from the back of the large room, surprising Josiah so he was lucky he didn't take a gouge out of the board. Man could appear and disappear nearly as silently as Vin, and had a skill for blending into the background when he wanted that made him almost invisible. Josiah didn't like to think on the necessity that had ingrained it in him. Setting the plane back down with a sigh, as he clearly wasn't getting any work done for awhile, he gave Nathan a look as he leaned against the doorway to his bedroom, his little brother having the good grace to look a little sheepish.
"Just how long have you been standing there, brother?"
"Right as Ezra was telling you all about how you're cursing all the joys in his life." Nathan was clearly at least as amused as he was disapproving, and Josiah found himself snorting before he could stop it. It really had been quite melodramatic, and now that he wasn't dealing with it he supposed he could admit it was funny. "Figured interrupting probably wouldn't help. I was coming to get you for patrol-Mrs. Davis is convinced she's dying when there ain't nothing wrong with her again, I examined her twice already today, and when I saw her coming down the street again I decided to duck around the back."
Grimacing in sympathy, because that woman was a hypochondriac both medically and spiritually and in the month the family had been in the town had come to talk to him about every sort of religious crisis a person could possibly have, and visited Nathan about twice as often, Josiah waved Nathan forward as he made sure the plane was centered and not going to go tumbling to the floor before he moved away from his project, supposing he could forgive the eavesdropping this once. "Just let me get my coat and hat and I'll be ready to go. 'Fraid there's no way to get to the livery without crossing the street though, so you'll have to risk it."
"Guess that's a chance I'll have to take," Nathan said, voice resigned, but eyes teasing and Josiah chuckled as he stepped over to the first pew and grabbed his jacket off the seat where it had slid down to lay in a heap, his hat at least sitting to the side where he'd left it.
"For the good of the town?"
"And 'cause Chris would kick my butt if I missed patrol on account of hiding from a sixty-eight year old woman barely comes up to my elbow." Josiah barked out a laugh that filled the room at that, and, shaking his head in amusement, started for the door, Nathan following after. All his joking around didn't keep Nathan from looking both ways down the street before he ventured out of the safety of the church or Josiah from chuckling at him again and ignoring Nathan's unimpressed look back. Neither man wanting to tarry in the street and wind up tangling with the old woman-if she thought she was dying she'd probably ask Josiah to perform last rites- they hurried down the down the steps and over the rutted road in the direction of the the livery, no more words exchanged between them until they were inside.
"So what in the world did Ezra want to do, anyway?" Nathan asked as he unlatched Brevet's stall, stroking the horse's silky face from just below the eyes to the top of his nose, the patient horse accepting it as his due, "Go to some high-stakes game in Purgatory or something like that?"
Stopping as he got to Bright's stall, Josiah shook his head, "No, but there are some days it wouldn't surprise me." Unlatching the door he greeted Bright, who lightly rubbed his head on Josiah's shirt and vest, leaving a trail of short white and brown hairs, and prompting a not at all serious, "Thanks, friend," from the preacher. He scratched up and down Bright's face, removing more of those apparently itchy hairs-it was an early spring, and hot enough for him to be losing his winter coat already. Josiah hadn't been sure he could take to another horse after Job, but the gentle, eager to please horse had wormed his way in. He could feel Nathan's eyes on him, waiting for the story and decided to make him wait a little longer as he started tacking up the horse. He wouldn't have been so curious if he'd let them know he was there, either Ezra would have tried to appeal to his brother's romantic side, likely through reminding him of Rain, or shut his mouth entirely, and waiting wouldn't hurt him. It wasn't until he had everything done, including tightening the cinch, and Nathan's impatience was palpable, that he spoke again, looking over and meeting the curious brown eyes. "Your brother wants me to let him go all the way to San Francisco to visit Lei Pan for a week. In her last letter she apparently told him that her family wanted to meet the person who helped her get home. Not only am I not letting him go that far by himself, period, but, since he wouldn't even let me see the letter, I'm not entirely sure that means they invited a boy they've never met to stay in the same house as their daughter for a week." Josiah wasn't naive by any means, and was fairly certain just how Ezra and Lei Pan's relationship had grown while she stayed in town, but if her parents had an inkling about that he wasn't sure Ezra's reception would be any too welcoming.
"Especially a white boy," Nathan sighed, giving a regretful shake of his head as he started leading Brevet out of his stall, and, when Josiah looked at him, surprised, said, "What? You know I'm right. And I can't imagine Mrs. Standish would approve either. It's sweet that he's still writing her, though-and I don't blame the boy at all for not showing you his love letter, I wouldn't have shown my Daddy something like that. Heck, I wouldn't show you something like that, 'Siah." The look on Nathan's face told Josiah he was more than a little crazy to have expected that, and he nodded reluctantly.
"I'll give you that one, Nate. It's the sort of thing a man keeps to himself." Taking Bright's lead, Josiah waited until Nathan had passed him on his way to the backdoor before guiding the horse after him, Bright's steps getting eager as they got closer to the exit. "Still worried about running into Mrs. Davis?"
Nathan chuckled ruefully, turning his head to look at Josiah over his shoulder, "Like you aren't?"
"Nah," the older man gave his brother a wicked grin as he shook his head, "I figure I'll just throw you at her and make my get away while she's not looking."
"Heck, Josiah, that's just plain mean." Stepping out the backdoor after Nathan, who'd turned Brevet away from the corral and towards the edge of town, Josiah just kept up his wicked grin as Nathan prepared to mount up.
"Needs must when the devil drives, brother."
*.*.*.*.*.*
Ezra sulked as he walked down the boardwalk. He was careful not to appear as though he were sulking to anyone walking by, but his skills at persuading others never seemed to work on himself when he most desired them to. He was sulking, there was no denying that, and had no intention of stopping doing so anytime soon.
For a man so tenderly effected by the stirrings of his own heart, Josiah was sorely lacking in fellow feeling or sympathy for one of his brethren so afflicted. The man simply refused to see reason or to truly take into consideration any of the proposals presented to him. During their long letter exchange his affections had not dwindled for Lei Pan, his yellow rose. If anything, distance had only encouraged their growth, like flames being worked by a bellow, they seemed to fan brighter everyday, enveloping him.
When he pictured her face, smiling at him, or relaxed in sleep those precious few times he'd been able to watch her...it may have made him sound like one of the damsels in JD's dime novels, but sometimes he felt as though his heart would simply burst with the feeling of it.
Stopping and leaning against a post outside the saloon Ezra looked up at the blue sky, only a few wispy clouds blocking the sun, still high in the sky, and pulled his hat down to his chest. Thinking about her made bits of poetry flit through his head, lines and stanzas of Byron and both Brownings appearing unbidden.
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes
He was growing ridiculously smitten-it was the middle of the day, while that verse and poem were apropos of his love, it was a poem of the night, meant to be thought of once the last rays of the sun had faded, not when they were beating down on the town, baking the earth. Yet, it was as though Ezra had no control over where his head was going any longer. Truthfully, at times it frightened him, the fullness of his feelings for her, the way thoughts of Lei Pan could could drive everything else away...
He'd never read poetry to her, and the longer they stayed separated the more he thought he would never get the chance.
"Lord, that was a mighty big sigh! You about blew me right over, Hoss." Startling, Ezra straightened as his eyes flew to Buck, who was slumped against the next post down, and from his comfortable position, he realized with dawning horror, had been there for awhile. And he said Ezra had been sighing? Surely not, now he was acting like the love struck hero from some romance. Trying to behave as though he'd been perfectly aware of Buck the whole time, and completely ignoring his statement, Ezra nodded at his brother.
"Good afternoon, Buck. How are you occupying yourself on this fine day?" Buck just smirked at him, and Ezra fought the urge to scowl at the knowing look in his eyes.
"Well, I'm sure as shootin' not spendin' it gazing all moon-eyed at the sky." Bristling and not bothering to hide it now, Ezra opened his mouth to inform Buck in his most ou traged tones that he was doing nothing of the kind, and would not stand for such slander-only to stop himself short as he realized just what an opportunity he had in front of him. Buck, for all his rough manners and peculiar turns of phrase, was in matters of the fairer sex ever a knight on horseback, and certainly a romantic through and through. This was the one of the seven, Ezra found himself sure, who would know how knavish it was to deny a lady-love your presence at their side when requested. "Okay, now you're looking at me like the cat that ate the canary-or the Ezra who thinks he's struck gold." Ezra put on his best innocent and earnest expression, but Buck just shook his head with that smirk still on his face, letting him know without a word that he wasn't fooled or impressed, "Do I wanna know what's going on in that head of yours?"
"Nothing so mercenary as you are thinking, Mr. Wilmington." Ezra tilted his head consideringly at Buck, as though he were thinking things over, even though he'd already come to his conclusion. Buck only looked more amused, but Ezra was certain he was pulling him in. Finally, when Buck was starting to look just a little antsy with his examination, Ezra nodded. "It is, howevah, a mattah of some delicacy and one you may be particularly suited for helping me examine the intricacies of-Ah trust that if Ah were to share mah private thoughts with you they would be kept between the two of us?"
Buck studied him for a long moment, before slowly nodding, "Long as it ain't somethin' 'Siah would kill me for not tellin' him, sure." Ezra shook his head, but before he had a chance to tell him that Josiah was already well informed of the situation, Buck straightened, a grin far bigger than before spreading across his face and one hand reflexively going to his hat, as though he had discovered something, "Wait a minute-this is about a girl, ain't it? That's why you said I was suited and were staring off all starry-eyed and all-You want some woman advice from your big brother Buck! Well, pard, you're right, I'm definitely the right man for the job!" Ezra tried to motion Buck to lower his voice, certain that if he were to look around he'd see townspeople staring, but before he could the man had thrown an arm about his shoulders, pulling him to his side and propelling them both towards the saloon's batwing doors, "For this kind of talk we're gonna need a drink, maybe a couple-and heck, you can watch me and Inez, that oughta give you some good pointers."
Good Lord, Ezra groaned to himself, as Buck all but towed him into the saloon, as cheerful as he'd ever seen him, what had he been thinking?