Man to Man Promises
Jericho leaned back in the chair at their little kitchen table. He was watching his son, at the ripe old age of five, stare at the forgotten Nuka-Cola truck in his small hands. The boy had been in some of the deepest thought he'd seen in his life.
"Daddy?" he asked, looking up finally. "What's a wife?"
Jericho lifted his scarred eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Maverick moved close to his father, leaving his truck behind. "Mommy is a wife. Aunt Maggie is a wife. But Maggie Creel is not. Moira is not…what make a girl a wife?"
Jericho laughed and pulled his son up on his knee. "A girl is a wife when a grown up man and woman stands up in front of all their friends and promise to love each other forever. It's an important promise. One that says even when things are hard and even when you are mad at each other that you promise to protect each other, you promise to build a good life together. "
Maverick sat there a minute, thinking about it. Then he looked up at his father with all the seriousness a five year old could muster. "When I'm big," he announced "Carly will be my wife."
Jericho laughed loudly and ruffled his hair. "Carly would make a good wife." He told his son. "You make sure you ask her dad's permission first. Man to man."
Maverick nodded gravely. "I'm going to go ask him now. Before someone else does."
Jericho nodded just as serious. "That's a good idea. Beat the rush." Maverick hopped down, strutting towards the door with his little chest puffed out.
Jericho jumped to his feet as soon as the door closed, intending to follow. Nova came up behind him and smacked his shoulder playfully. "You did that on purpose."
"Damn straight I did, like you don't wanna go watch this."
"You're damn right I do!"
Together they left, spotting their son almost instantly, knocking on Charon's front door. It opened a Maggie smiled. "Hello Maverick. I'm sorry Carly's not here. She's down playing with Lucy west's daughter."
"That's okay," he told her. "Is Charon here?"
She lifted an eyebrow. "No, he's up at Gob's. Why?"
"I gotta ask him something." He told her. "Man to Man." And he turned on his heel, walking with the purpose of a man on a mission.
Maverick strutted past them in the direction of the Saloon and they waited until he was a good deal ahead of them before nova and Jericho followed. Maggie raised a questioning eyebrow and Nova waved for her to follow.
The three of them halted, watching Maverick hesitate in front of the Saloon door. He knew he wasn't supposed to play in there, that was a grown up place. He'd been inside in the morning with his farther but it was late afternoon now and he was alone. Still he wasn't going to go in to play. He had a very important thing to talk to Charon about. A grown up thing. Surly that meant he could enter the saloon?
The adults watched his indecision from a discrete distance.
"Come on boy," Jericho muttered under his breath.
They all saw Maverick draw himself up and saw him form the words. "Man to man," before pushing open the door. Jericho's chest swelled with pride.
The three adult hurried to follow and Nova waved them around to the back door. "We can slip into the office and listen."
Inside Maverick paused to let his eyes adjust to the darker room. Charon was at the helping Gob hook a couple speakers to his radio.
"Maverick?" Gob asked, noticing the boy. "What brings you here?"
Charon looked over his shoulder, his screwdriver pausing. Maverick puffed up his chest. "I gotta talk to Charon." He said announced. "Man to man."
Gob and Charon exchanged looks and Charon put his screw driver down, giving the child his full attention. "Alright," he rumbled. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Charon, I'm going to grow up big and strong. Like you and my Daddy." He told him, his tone letting everyone who could hear him know that he was very serious about this."
Charon nodded. "I believe it. You're a good kid that'll grow into a good man."
Inside the office Jericho muttered. "He's going to be sorry he said that in a minute."
"Why? What's going on?" Maggie whispered.
"Watch," Jericho told her, fighting to keep from laughing.
"Right," Maverick said. "So I want to ask you something real important. I gotta now, a'fore somebody else does."
Charon nodded, confused by the both the boy demeanor and words.
"Charon, man to man," he swelled up a little more, holding himself as tall as he could. "When I'm big can Carly to be my wife?"
Gob choked on the beer he was drinking and Charon snapped up so fast almost knocked the radio off the bar with his elbow.
"What?" he asked, to shocked to really process an answer.
"When I'm big," Maverick told him again. "I will promise to protect Carly, even when she's mad at me. I'll build her things that big people need, like a house and a stove and a brush for her hair. I promise she will be my best friend forever."
Somewhere in the direction of the office somebody was laughing hysterically but Charon didn't turn to see who. He thought about it, giving Maverick a long stair while he considered what he was being asked.
On the one hand Maverick was indeed a good boy and it seemed like he'd put a lot of thought into this. On the other hand before good little boys turned into good men they were teenagers…as a father to a little girl growing to be every bit as pretty as her mother teenage boys were the greatest enemy Charon had ever faced. Teenage boys were an enemy to be both feared and hated. He'd already made Gob promise to help him wrap the house in barbed wire and install turrets for Carly's sixteenth birthday.
"Well," he said at last, realizing Maverick was looking up at him, waiting for him to respond. "If Carly wants to be your wife we can talk about this again, when you're both adults," he told him. Thinking maybe he'd be okay giving away his little girl when she was around fifty. "But I think it would probably be okay. As long as you promise to always keep her safe."
Maverick grinned and stuck out his hand. "Deal."
Charon shook his hand, grinning down at the boy.
"Remember," Maverick told him. "You said. You can't let anybody else have her until I'm big enough to ask her myself. Promise? Man to Man?"
Charon blanched at the thought of somebody trying to marry his daughter before she was an adult. He'd kill them for think it. He was going to need more barbed wire…he could already tell.
"Count on it kid. I promise not to let anybody steal her away." He stuck out his hand. "Man to man."
Charon made Gob promise to help him wrap the house in barbed wire. :)