…

Chapter 10

…

…

Vash turned and stared at the old man that had basically called him a woman.

The old man slowly turned his head toward Vash, the sun glaring off of his dark sunglasses.

"Oh! Sorry young man," the old man said in a slightly embarrassed tone as he rocked back and forth in his rocking-chair, "I had assumed you were my personal nurse, Ruby, since nobody else usually comes out here."

Vash sighed with relief. He was glad that he wasn't really mistaken for a woman. And then, Vash thought, "young man?" he smiled on the inside, "I'm finally glad that somebody here recognized that I don't look old!"

"So…" the old man called out to Vash, patting the dusty rocking chair beside him, "Come have a seat! You sound kind of tired."

Vash decided that after all of his ordeals on this day, to try to relax a bit. So, he walked over and sat next to the old man in black pajamas.

Suddenly the old guy held his hand out to Vash.

"Hi, my name's Bushoukarashinseikuyurasuamatatabako."

"What?" Vash said, taking a mental double take as he shook the man's hand.

"Bushoukarashinseikuyurasuamatatabako." The old man repeated.

"Yeah, I heard it the first time," Vash managed to say wide-eyed.

Bushoukarashinseikuyurasuamatatabako smiled and added, "But you can just call me Mike."

"Mike?" Vash repeated, rocking back and forth in his chair, "How do you get 'Mike' from Bushoukashieuh…um…yeah…huh…?"

"Well," the old man coughed slightly, "I usually go by my middle name, and Bushoukarashinseikuyurasuamatatabako is my first name."

Vash looked very confused at this point. "So," Vash asked cautiously, "What is your middle name?" He was expecting something with 12 syllables at this point.

"Mikorett."

"Huh…" Vash stated in a thoughtful tone. This day just kept getting weirder and weirder.

Mikorett frowned slightly, his fuzzy white hair moving in the wind, "You think my name is weird don't you."

Vash cleared his throat in a nervous manner.

"My parents were on drugs." Mike stated flatly.

Vash thought this guy was somewhat off his rocker—so to speak—so he thought he would try to get out of this conversation quickly and make his way to lunch—if it could be called that.

"Um…" Vash began, scooting slowly towards the edge of the chair, "Um, Bushuoahuh…I mean Miko…uh…um…"

The old dude slapped Vash on the back affectionately and smiled.

"You can just call me BMW."

"BMW?" Vash repeated, "What does that mean."

"It's my initials…obviously," The tall old wrinkly man smiled, "My full name is—

—Bushoukarashinseikuyurasuamatatabako Mikorett …Wolfwood."

Vash, blinking, could only stare at him.

"Wha…what…" Vash's mind fumbled, "You…you don't…you don't happen to known—I mean know…"

"Speak clearly boy!" the old man said.

"…do you know of a Nicholas D. Wolfwood!" Vash asked in a very interested tone.

Vash's mind had suddenly been filled with mixed emotions. The mention of Wolfwood had brought up many memories both happy and sad. Vash thought back to the good times with Wolfwood—traveling on the bus, hanging with the insurance girls, and being happily mauled by children.

"Little Nickie?" BMW asked in a somewhat surprised tone, "You know little Nicholas?"

Vash smiled—somewhat sadly—and nodded.

"Why, he's my great grandson," BMW replied with a smile on his face, "And my only living relative."

Vash twitched slightly.

"Oh, that brings back the memories," BMW began, "It seems like only yesterday that his parents spontaneously combusted and I had to take care of sweet little Nickie—"

"—…Sure I was 83, but I tried to take care of him the best I could before I got taken away here at age 85. Oh, this brings back the memories. I remember how it was so mysterious that my stash of cigarettes would always disappear during the couple of years I cared for him—"

Vash laughed knowingly.

"—I never could figure that out…" The old man looked at the ceiling curiously.

Vash stared at him in disbelief.

"…And then later," BMW rubbed his chin with his hand in thought, "my antique gun collection disappeared…and then the children of the town seemed to be toting guns and developing bad smoking habits…Oh! And around that time, Nicholas somehow managed to get enough money to buy himself a motorcycle…although he was too small to ride it yet…"

Vash stared wide-eyed.

"…What strange coincidences." Mikorett said in a confused tone.

"Uh..huh…" Vash said slowly.

"But, eventually," Mikorett said, "Nicholas had to be put with a guardian after I was toted off to this place—and now I'm almost 100. But, I heard that that guardian man was really nice."

Vash cocked an eyebrow. An awkward pause followed.

"So, tell me, stranger, since you know Nick," BMW began, "Do you think Nicholas takes after me any?" The old man smiled.

"Well," Vash replied, thinking carefully as he looked at Wolfwood's great grandfather, "I see that you enjoy wearing dark sunglasses just like him."

Mikorett's expression blanked, "…"

"…I'm blind." He said flatly.

…

…

Elsewhere, Milly was happily skipping towards the local cat shelter in hopes of executing her brilliant kitty-cat plan.

She passed a pudding stand and stopped suddenly.

Milly smiled, "The nekos will have to wait a little longer."

And, not but a block down the street was the cat shelter she was heading to.

Down in the Kitty-Kat-Shack stood a single Manager, leaning his elbows lazily on the counter.

"If one more person brings a cat in here I'll—" the Manager grumbled disgruntledly.

"Meow…" voiced a kitty in the arms of a woman that suddenly walked in the door.

The Manager pretended to perk up as the customer entered, "How can I help you?"

The woman came in and sat the cat on the counter, "Yes, I want to turn in a stray cat."

"Uh, ma'am," the Manager wined, "This shelter is full, we can't handle any more cats."

"Deal with it." The woman huffed and walked off leaving the cat on the counter.

"Meow…" the cat purred as it stared at the Manager with its huge green eyes.

"Errr…" groaned the Manager smiling creepily, at the kitty, "…looks like I'll have to make another phone call."

The Manager takes a quick glance down the rows of filled cat cages just to make sure that there was no more room. He squinted his eyes as he counted each kitty.

"Yep." Was all he said in conclusion, as he reached for the gray phone on the front counter where the stray cat was still situated.

The Manager dialed a few numbers, and then it began to ring.

The person on the other end picks up.

"Is this Super Sal's Salmon Sandwich Hut? Yeah."

"Uh huh." The Manager sat down the phone a second and grabbed hold of the cat on the counter.

"Yes," he said holding up the kitty, "I do have some of that special 'salmon' meat up for sale…yep."

The Manager then lifts the cat up and down, "…oh I'd say 8 pounds…?"

"Hmm…Yeah, I'll go half price…"

The cat looks at him, "Nyao."

"Ok! SOLD!" the Manager yelled as he hung up the phone and slapped his knee, "Yee haw…uh …Uh?"

The man turns around from hearing a noise to see Milly standing right in front of the counter finishing up a pudding cup and smiling obliviously.

…

…

Meanwhile, over in "crazy town" Knives was fuming over the name list and the suggestion that he had to change his name in the first place.

Even Dr. Smartzki looked a little worried at the expression that Knives was making.

Knives's silence was slowly starting to really creep out the doctor, so he decided to break the silence.

"How we break for today, and we can discuss changing your name at our next meeting." Dr. Smartzki smiled a fake smile.

Knives glared at him even worse.

"Oooookay…" the doctor began, sweat pouring down his face, "Since I think that you probably have some issues you need to work out before our next session…—"

"—How about I just schedule you an appointment this afternoon with our resident Psycho-Therapist Specialist?"

Knives frowned.

Dr. Smartzki smiled at him, then smiled at the nurses by the door.

"Kindly sedate Mr. Knives and take him to the medical wing for his IV-drip lunch."

…

…

Meryl sat by the window of the 2nd story apartment watching passersby and sipping coffee. She looked over at her half-eaten lunch and the huge law book she had been thumbing through.

Meryl sighed as she was tired from reading and was taking a break.

But, then suddenly, she heard raised and frantic voices in the street.

"Did you hear the latest?"

"No, what!"

"Vash the Stampede turned out to be some geezer."

"What! Really!"

"Yeah, so they canceled all the bounties on him."

"Awe, man…"

"But, I hear that he had him a secret wife, some hott young thing."

"Whoa! Really!"

"Yeah, and they say she's just as fearsome as him."

"Whoa! What's her name?"

"She's being called Merry the Midget Maelstrom"

Meryl shot up. "Merry?" she thought, "Merry's just a few letters off from… from… Meryl."

"And I hear that they are about to slap a 63 billion reward on her…"

"!" Meryl spit her hot coffee straight out the window.

Unfortunately, her coffee happened to land on some random guy outside.

The poor man screamed in terror, clutching his backside, "Ah! My buns!"

…

…

Who else will Vash run into at the Old Folk's Home? Will Milly get her 85 year old cat? Will her plan fail, or rescue Vash? How will Knives' Psycho-Therapy go? Will Dr. Smartzki survive this? Will random guy ever recover from his coffee induced trauma?

All this and more, Next Time!

…

…

To Be Continued

…

…

In memory of poor Wolfwood.

Yes, Bushoukarashinseikuyurasuamatatabako is made up of actual Japanese words, in case you care—6 words to be exact. I looked it up on a Japanese dictionary site thing. Yes it means something. Hehe. Review!

…

…