Larabee Ranch
4:45 AM
Five pairs of eyes widened in shock as the sounds of banging filled the air from the small back bedroom where Ezra Standish habitually slept when staying at the ranch.
"Come back here you tiny minion of Satan!" A highly irate Southern voice bellowed. "How dare you avoid your just desserts."
More crashes and thuds filled the air.
"You figure we oughta check on him?" Vin asked hesitantly.
"Go in low, he has a tendency to shoot high," Buck suggested as he settled deeper into the recliner, making it plain that he wasn't about to go check on the Southerner.
"Brother Ezra sounds a trifle . . . disturbed," Josiah noted.
"Think maybe he's got a mouse?" Nathan questioned.
"JD, what did you do?" Chris growled catching the amused sparkle in the computer specialist's eyes.
"Me?" JD blinked innocently. The twitching of the youngster's lips a dead giveaway that he was involved in Ezra's upset.
"JD, confession is good for the soul." Josiah's large hand firmly grasped the smaller man's shoulder.
"You wanted him up so we can leave on time, right?" JD reminded.
"So, how did you get that Southern pain-in-the-ass out of bed?" Chris asked in amusement listening to the continued mayhem from the back room.
"I got him an alarm clock," JD answered cheerfully.
A gloating "Ha, got you," was followed by the sound of a heavy weight falling. Pained curses filled the air.
"Get back here. You can run but you can't hide."
"What kind of clock did you get?" Buck asked with a chuckle.
Vin winced at the sound of splintering wood. "Guess that old night stand jist bit the dust."
"Get out from under that bed at once!" Ezra bellowed.
"It's a novelty. You can record whatever you want as the alarm. I used Chris's blow up at the last finance meeting." JD explained. All the men winced at the memory of that particular meeting.
"Ez is almighty hard on alarm clocks," Vin reminded. "Wonder how come he didn't toss it against the wall like usual?"
"It hid from him." JD smirked.
"What?"
"It will hide from you when you try and turn it off."
"He's going to bust it in a million pieces when he gets his hands . . . ," Josiah's voice trailed off as a loud thud against the wall was heard.
"Oh it's padded. He'd need a sledge hammer to actually hurt it." JD cheerfully slipped out the door. "If you haven't noticed you guys aren't."
"Aw Shit!" Vin stuffed his mouth full of eggs and grabbed his toast and coffee as he rushed for the door
"Every man for himself," Josiah tossed Chris to the side as he charged after the two youngest team members.
Author's note: Tocky the rolling ball alarm clock can be seen at thinkgeek (dot) com