Chapter VI
A 'Dark' Secret, 'and' an 'Old' Bottle of Wine?
"C-c-c..-Cream!" Shadow Darkspot stiffened in the innocent girls presence. He quickly turned himself and scooted sideways past the girl and her mother back onto the street. "Oh my!" he said suspiciously, "what a surprise to see you here, STANDING at this dark suspicious alley which I clearly was not just IN!" he chuckled at Vanilla, bending to PAT her daughter on her simple, unsuspecting, innocent, and pure bright head. The girl giggled but didn't say anything. She continued to stare innocently at the dude and waited.
"Well it's good to see you Shadow." Vanilla said, SMILING. She glanced over his shoulder as he fumbled and sweated. "um.. er, What.. w-what ever could you be doing out so late at night?" he asked, trying to make conversation. He hoped against the pope and all hope that she wouldn't judge him for this.. He glanced back into the alleyway where Moss's candle flickered and bounced tauntingly at the deranged 'campground' owner.
Vanilla met him with an unwavering stare, "I could ask you the same thing Mr. Darkspot." she said, her smile fading. 'Was she threatening?' Shadow wondered. the black dude began chuckling nervously again. "hehe.." he whispered. She didn't say anything else, but her eyebrows lifted.
After A brief awkward SILENCE. they BOTH glanced side to side and back at each-other. "LOOK Shadow." The female said swiftly, "I won't tell anyone I found you here, if you do the same for me. I THINK it's only fair." She smiled again, and Shadow noticed that she too, was a little nervous, perhaps afraid of being caught.
Shadow swallowed hard nodding desperately. "Agreed." he SPAT OUT. Without thinking he hurried away into the village AGAIN. He glanced over his shoulder as Vanilla and Cream disappeared into the alleyway. 'that poor CHILD.' he briefly thought. He patted down his quills to conceal the baccie, and tried with GRATE effort to look normal. The farther he walked the more he wondered, if Vanilla was willing to keep this great TERRIBLE secret of his a, well, secret, perhaps he could strike a deal with her. A deal with certain rewards, and monetary benefits for the both of them.
On HIS way home, Shadow past a large purple cat stumbling drunkenly on his wide feet, and a white polar bear babbling continuously right beside him.
Beanie the Beanie Baby
"Uh, Bean?" Stick's voice finally broke the awkward silence, and her hand shot out and made a QUICK slicing motion for good measure. "silence begone," she whispered under her breath before clearing her throat. "R U finally done being a silly duck, Beanie? I mean, staring out across deh oh-see-ahn as thu moon rises might be a cool scene for a movie, but it's GETTING a little cold, don't ya think?" But she was greeted ONCE again by silence. A snarl ripped FROM her throat and she punched the air with a powerful fist, slamming her foot into a rock WITH an earth shattering kick. "I SAID BEGONE!" she screamed at the world, ignoring the throbbing red that had overtaken her foot.
"Sticks, what are you doing?" Bean asked finally, looking at his 'sister' as she cursed her ankle to high heaven. The badger/raccoon looked UP and glared at him before plopping to the ground. She grabbed his 'hand' and pulled him down next to her, placing HER swollen leg on his 'lap'.
"So," she drawled bitterly, "yer sober now? An speakin too? To what do ah owe DIS gret honor, 'brother' of mine?" She yanked A handful of grass from the ground and stuffed it in her mouth, chewing angrily. "Need... food..."
The duck sighed slowly and fell back against the ground, STARING up at the stars. "If only I could have been sober then... But NO, I was just a stupid, drunken, cowboy that made a horrible mistake. Why did I do it, Sticks? Why did I buy that century old bottle OF wine from that weird guy in the wagon? Why did I have to DRINK it all myself, not once sharing a single DROP of it with Jackie? If I had shared it, then maybe we both would have been drunk, we wouldn't have broken UP, and I wouldn't be feeling like a total... a total..."
"Jerk?" Sticks offered, grazing fiercely on the grass around her.
"yeah," Beans agreed softly. "A total, a class jerk." He began to SNUFFLE again, causing Sticks to look up. Seeing her 'brother's' distress, the badger/raccoon scooted over and snuggled into the duck's 'side', wrapping her arm around his 'middle'. "Guess we're sleepin here t'night," she muttered, reaching up to pat down Bean's constant cowlick. "JUST hope it doesn't rain..."
...F;l;A;s;H;b;A;c;k...
Two weeks ago,,,
The west. The wild wild west...
The west WHERE most people don't go."
Wind whistled eerie notes, lifting blankets of sand from the earth and twisting them into pictures in the warm morning air, HARSH pellets of HARD dirt and ROCK came scampering by like ANGRY children looking for revenge.. and a rather nasty piece of stone came HARD and kicked into the boot of a deranged looking feathery duck.
He lifted his 'hat', and the wind whistled again, accompanied by the off pitch chord struck by a dumbstruck cowboy laying on top of his banjo sitting in the sun. A wagon was behind him, a wagon filled.. FILLED, mind you, with old shirts. Most of them worn through. The ducks awesome trench-coat billowed in the 'breeze'. "Wel howdy doo dang dibbler" The green duck greeted, kicking his short 'feet' all the WAY up to his 'head', and then down again. He knelt on HIS 'ankles' and kissed the sand flatteringly. "What did you say?" The red looking RED creature turned his face away from his guitar, and looked Bean in the eye. He KEPT his gaze for a little while, his lips were dry and his eyes seemed to wobble, almost like he WAS having trouble staying awake. "You talkin to me?" he finally added.
Beany Babenlin swallowed hard, and nodded once, TWICE, then three times + 1nc more. The nod quickly became a shake of the head. The strange guy had hair like a hippy, and seemingly fresh facial hair that probed from beneath his sun-burnt face.
"No nabbly pardner Bloke." Bean said. he waddled past him drunkenly, and the pale red Echidna-like Echnida looked back down, playing THE same two notes on his guitar once again. As he made his way past, The duck couldn't help but notice that the guitar had no strings. He marked this observation as unimportant and MOVED along.
It was HARD to see anything, in fact, the whole SKY looked brown, and the freakish light of the sun only pattered through by and by. IT was dusty, windy, and almost a sandstorm. Bean looked behind him one more time. This was the first traveler he HAD seen in five hundred miles. He considered, for a moment, that he should probably stick around.
SO, he turned on his 'heel' and made back to the wagon. He came so he stood a foot away from the slumped guy, and coughed very disturbingly. He then proceeded to wait for the doods reackshun. TO his dismay, there was none. So he kicked him in the shin.
"What thuh flanks?!" the pubescent child exclaimed, fALLing off the broken banjo and landing in the dry dry sand. "Why you kick me pardner?" he asked Bean business-like but irritable. Bean said nothing, but he burped. AND the red echidna frowned. "Oh... I know what yer here for.." he said all slow like.. He sighed and LOOKED around him. "You're like that other feller arnchu?... lookin for my bottle of wine." Bean was confused at this point. He was never SOCIALIZED as a child, and never followed movies well, so he had no CLUE what to DO when someone was talking to YOU.
"Uh... Sure." he said. Hoping to impress someone. The red guy nodded. "I'll get IT, just dont do nothin while mah backs turned." he nodded, and Bean looked down, then UP again. The Echnidna kept nodding, as he turned around, and reached into the pile of shirts, some of them stained, and selected a broken bottle of- likely- the oNly fluid around for miles.
Bean's Dull expressioN turned to that of joy, and he grinned so wide YOU could see his 'tongue'.. you know.. cuz birds dont have TEETH.. The Echidna Smiled, and handed Beany the bottle. "He smiled." the echnida said, and grinned as Bean took the BROKEN thing in his hands. "Remember me.." he spoked. "Remember me." once more. And Bean blinked.
HE was alone. Alone amongst the howling of the desert winds. He looked at the bottle in his hands, and sloshed the wine around within it. "Wow" he said. "I should drink this." he turned around. "And then.." he looked up, trying to find north. "Probably GO home."
… E;n;D-O;f-F;l;A;s;H;b;A;c;k...