Inspired by Phyllis’ May
15 drabble challenge to give one of the guys a ‘wardrobe malfunction’ of some
kind, and Yolande’s Feb 2004 challenge to show what
kind of mischief the boys get up to when they’ve got time on their hands.
Wardrobe Malfunction
By Helen Adams
Thieves! Brigands, hooligans, sneaky underhanded
bastards!
Wrenching
the buckle of his gunbelt loose, Ezra flung the apparatus onto the bed,
allowing his hastily tied covering to fall to the floor. He kicked it across the room in a fit of
pique, completely unmindful of the fact that he wore a hat, boots and nothing
in between as he began pacing the room.
An
impressive collection of swear words picked up over a lifetime in saloons and
gambling halls poured from his lips in a quiet but vindictive stream.
Bad
enough that he had suffered public defeat!
Worse that he had been cheated – again! – and
still could not figure out how. Only
one man could have been responsible for purloining his wardrobe from right
under his nose then leaving it in a neatly folded pile right outside his
door. Only one man was sneaky enough,
stealthy enough, clever enough and flat-out twisted
enough to have done it.
Well,
perhaps two…but he was quite sure Vin had been otherwise
occupied.
Oh, the
treachery.
He would
pay this insult back in spades. As soon
as he deduced an appropriate method of reprisal, his vengeance would be…
Ezra’s
gaze fell upon the dresser, catching sight of the tin of bleaching powder he
always kept to boil his good white shirts in.
A wicked smile tilted the corners of his mouth. Oh, yes, indeed.
~*~*~*~*~
It had
been a week since the departure of Big Lester Banks and the death of Achilles
Thompson and it was more than time for life to get interesting again.
“Any of
you know where Ezra was taking that crate of berries yesterday?” asked JD,
glancing around the saloon.
No one
knew, but suddenly the answer became clear as Chris Larabee came storming into
the saloon. Mouths fell open, eyes
bulged with shock, and every gut began shaking with laughter.
“Now, don’t that look purty!” Buck guffawed, eyes sparkling. He grinned unrepentantly at Chris’ warning
glare. “I think you found your look, pard.”
“Pink,” Larabee
growled, jerking the plackets of his shirt out in disgust. “Every shirt I own has been dyed pink! I’m gonna kill him!”
Vin’s eyes teared with
laughter. “Should’ve known messin’ with Ezra’s clothes would come back to bite you,
cowboy.”
“I didn’t
touch his clothes!” Chris roared indignantly.
As Chris
continued to rant and threaten, trying and failing to defend himself against
the disbelieving jibes of his friends, Nathan Jackson hid his own mischievous
grin behind his hand. It did him good to
see JD laughing again, to listen to the friendly banter of his friends. It would do Chris and Ezra both some good
too, not to take themselves so seriously.
This had been a tough week for all of them, a week filled with pain,
self-doubt and heartbreak. They had all
needed a break; a laugh. Sometimes
laughter really was the best medicine of all – even for a healer.
Besides,
he’d owed Ezra a payback for accusing him of having no sense of humor!
The End
Author's Note: Ezra never actually accused Nathan of
having no sense of humor, though he easily could have! As for the
rest, it occurred to me that we never saw Nathan or Chris between the scene
where Nathan, Ezra and Buck are having breakfast and the end when JD is
leaving. I also wondered why Ezra had no clothes after the big
game. He had no real reason to have bet them - his clothing never would
have fit Lester - and it seemed unlikely that he would have not thought to grab
them if he took the time to put his gunbelt on! And Ezra taking the effort to sneak in and
dye all of Chris’ clothes? Hey,
sometimes menial labor is worth the effort!
Nathan just better hope that Ezra and Chris never figure out his part in
things. J
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