September 14, 1986

"Happy birthday, kid," Joshua said, handing the fosterling a small wrapped box. The fact that it was wrapped up in old newspaper was just one of the details of their normal life and not something Caleb ever really cared about.

The brand-new sixteen year-old took the box. It wasn't really big enough to hold anything lethal, and was entirely the wrong shape for a book. It was only about three inches long, an inch or so tall, and two inches wide. He looked up at Josh. "Is it safe to shake?"

The man sighed and rolled his eyes skywards as though asking the heavens to explain just what had ever possessed him enough to actually agree to taking in the brat. "Just open the fucking thing, Caleb."

"You have no appreciation for the finer things in life, Josh," Caleb retorted, ripping the scrap of newsprint off the box. Opening the tiny cardboard container, Caleb could only stare at its contents.

"Well?" Joshua prompted. "Aincha gonna say nothin'?"

Caleb delicately picked the keyring up, already enjoying the jangling noise as the keys clinked together. "Really?" he said.

"Yeah," Joshua nodded.

"No, I mean really?"

Joshua chuckled, the sound still identical to the gravely rumble of noise that had been so weirdly apt to the classroom-cum-charnel-house where they had met. "An' I still say yeah. We'll stop by the storage place an' pick her up after you pass your license test." He paused and shot a serious look at the kid. "That is, if you pass."

Caleb grinned, "Of course I'll pass."

He did, only missing two questions on the written exam and making full marks during the practical. And the car was absolutely beautiful, for all that it was getting up there in years – all sleek lines and shining dark blue metal and chrome. Just the thing for a good long road trip. Once he managed to find a tape deck for it first.

A/N2: Before anyone can point out the inconsistency of holy water working when hallowed ground didn't, keep in mind that this is an inconsistency inherent in Show – remember that the Meg bitch was able to walk into Pastor Jim's church and slit his throat, yet in the subsequent episodes, holy water burned her.

Also, just for your information, the character map calls '§' a 'section sign'. I usually refer to it as The Sims money-symbol. As I have no idea as to the origin of this symbol (and Google has proven yet again that it loathes me), I went with the assumption that it's been around a while. If this is incorrect, please ignore the discrepancy.

This story was mainly to get me back into the swing of writing again – I sorta fell out of the habit of writing daily when I got roped into some RL shit (not to mention finding my Black&White game CD). I have another onefer planned for the RFYL 'verse, but I don't know when or even if I'll ever get it posted – but it was in the research and notes phase of that fic that this one came raging up out of the demonic plotbunny infested darkness.

If you're interested, Bryant's 'aging station wagon' can be seen here:

en (dot) wikipedia (dot) org (slash) wiki (slash) File:1958 (underscore) Ambassador (underscore) 4-d (underscore) hardtop (underscore) wagon (underscore) 1 (dot) JPG

And Caleb's car is viewable here:

http (colon, slash, slash, triple-W, dot) seriouswheels (dot) com (slash) 1960-1969 (slash) 1966-Oldsmobile-Toronado-Jay-Leno-FA-1024x768 (dot) htm

Thanks for reading, until next time!