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04 || A Comb and a Pistol
Ella and Kaitlyn stood on the train tracks waiting for the four boys to come. They knew it was probably minutes from turning twelve-thirty. Twelve being the time they were supposed to meet.
"What if they left without us?" Ella asked, bored and simply tired of waiting.
Kaitlyn shook her head, "No. They're boys, of course, they're late. They use a clock as much as they use their brains."
Ella laughed, "And here I thought girls were the one dealing with sexism."
Kaitlyn laughed too, "Yeah, well, they just got a taste of their own medicine."
The girls heard talking and looked behind them to see all of the boys walking in a slower pace.
"Snails," Ella muttered under her breath, earning a chuckle from Kaitlyn.
"Hey!" Vern shouted happily with a wave to the two girls who were a few feet ahead of them now.
"Hey," Ella started, her eyes falling on Gordie, "You okay, Gordo?"
Chris' eyes fell on Kaitlyn, as her eyes did on him. Kaitlyn smiled at the boy, her dimples showing. Chris couldn't hold in the smile when he saw her smiling at him.
Gordie nodded, not convincing anyone though, "I'm fine, thanks, Ella."
The two girls sent a look of disbelief but neither of them pressed the subject, not wanting to make their friend uncomfortable.
Chris stood by Kaitlyn and the six started walking, following the train tracks.
"What do we need a pistol for, anyway?" Vern asked.
"What pistol?" Kaitlyn asked immediately.
Chris pulled a pistol out of his bundled sleeping bag, "It's spooky sleeping out at night in the woods. We might see a bear," Chris replies.
"Or a garbage can," Teddy says, laughing.
Ella furrowed her eyebrows, "I'm not going to ask."
"I brought a comb." Vern suddenly said, ending the silence.
"What do we need a comb for?" Chris asked.
"If we get on TV," Vern started, "We want to look good, don't we?"
"That's a lot of thinking, Vern," Gordie said, complimenting the dorky boy.
"Thanks," Vern said sweetly.
"I appreciate it," Ella said receiving a smile from the boy.
Teddy suddenly threw his hand in Vern's face, making the boy flinch.
"Two for flinching," Teddy stated before punching Vern in the arm twice.
The six stopped at a bridge and looked at how far the train tracks went on for.
"Here comes my summer body," Kaitlyn said with a sigh to Ella, who nods in agreeance.
"How far do you think it's gonna be?" Teddy asked.
Chris sighed thinking, "If we follow the tracks all the way into Harlow, it'd be about twenty miles."
"Jesus," Ella muttered.
"Sound about right to you, Gordie?" Chris asked.
"Yeah," Gordie agreed, "It might even be thirty."
"Gee, maybe we should just hitchhike," Vern said.
All five looked at the boy in disagreement.
"No way," Teddy replied after sending him a look, "That sucks."
"Why not?" Vern asked, "We could go out Route Seven to the Shiloh Church then down the Back Harlow Road. We'll be there by sundown."
"That's pussy," Teddy replied.
"Hey, it's a long ways!" Vern shot back.
"Did your mother have any kids that lived?" Teddy asked him.
Ella bit back a laugh.
"What do you mean?" Vern asked, and the two stop walking and just look at each other.
"C'mon children, we can talk about this later," Kaitlyn said, ushering the boys to keep walking.
The six of them walked for a little while in silence before Vern started singing, which the five other kids started to sing in sync with him.
"Have gun will travel, reads the card of a man. A knight without armor in a savage land. His fast gun for hire heeds the calling wind. A soldier of fortune is the man called Paladin," The six kids sang the lyrics over and over, trying to past up some time.
"We have to fill up at the junkyard. My dad said it's a safe well," Gordie said, remembering the fact once he saw Chris drink some water from his canteen.
Chris offered Kaitlyn some water but she shook her head, sending him a grateful smile which he returned with a nod.
"Not if Chopper's there," Vern stated.
"If Chopper's there, we'll send you in," Chris replied looking at Vern.
"Very funny," Vern replied sarcastically.
Chris skips his feet, almost tripping Kaitlyn in the process.
Kaitlyn sent Chris a look which made him smile, even though Kaitlyn's look wasn't the nicest. But he knew that she was just messing around.
"Hey, I'm kinda hungry. Who's got the food?" Vern asks.
"Oh, shit," Teddy curses, "Did anyone bring anything."
Everyone stopped walking and looked at each other.
Kaitlyn looked around biting her lip, "I figured someone else would."
"That's what I thought," Ella said scratching her head.
"Not me. Gordie?" Chris asked.
Gordie shook his head.
"This is great. What are we supposed to do? Eat our feet?" Teddy asked.
"You mean you didn't bring anything either?" Chris asked.
"Shit, this wasn't my idea. It was Vern's idea." Teddy replied, throwing the blame off of him.
Realization hit everyone, no one brought food and it was too late to walk back now.
Chris kicks the ground angrily, frightening Kaitlyn lightly as she hadn't seen it coming.
"Why didn't you bring something?" Teddy asked Vern firmly.
"Am I supposed to think of everything?" Vern asked annoyed, "I brought the comb."
"Great, you brought the comb. What do you need a comb for? You don't even have any hair!" Teddy replied, his voice raising.
"I brought it for you guys!" Vern said irritated.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Gordie started, stepping in, "Let's see how much money we got."
With that, everyone started plucking through their pockets digging for some money and they all sat down on the tracks.
Kaitlyn found herself sitting next to Chris, a recurring event that did not bother her in the slightest.
Kaitlyn drew out two quarters, a dime, two nickels, and three pennies. 83 cents wasn't bad and she was glad she didn't clean out her pockets prior to the trip.
Ella, who was sat next to Gordie, drew out three quarters, two nickels, and a penny. Ella sighed in relief upon seeing her 86 cents, glad to not have fallen short.
"I got $1.02," Gordie told, before collecting the other five's money, "Sixty-eight cents from Chris. Eighty-three cents from Kaitlyn. Sixty cents from Teddy. Eighty-six cents from Ella."
Vern hesitated to give his money to Gordie, which made it pretty clear he wasn't very satisfied with the amount he had.
Gordie just stared at his money for a moment before looking up at Vern, "Seven cents, Vern?"
Vern looked at the floor, before moving his eyes to Gordie's flat stare, then averting his eyes back to the floor.
"I haven't found my pennies yet," Vern said lowly.
Kaitlyn and Ella both bit back a giggle, even though the hours they spent trying to help him find his pennies in the heat wasn't very funny to them.
Gordie, ignoring the boy, said, "Well, $4.06 isn't bad. Quidaciolu's is at the end of that road that goes by the junkyard. I think we can get some stuff there."
"Train coming," Chris said as he stands up. Chris offered a hand to Kaitlyn, which she accepts, and he pulled her up softly.
The other four stood up after hearing Chris' words.
They hastily run off the tracks. Vern leaped off the small ledge of the tracks and called out, "Geronimo!"
The five that left the tracks looked back to see Teddy still standing on the tracks and he's facing the emerging train.
"C'mon, Teddy," Chris sais.
"No," Teddy started, "I'm gonna dodge it."
"Come on, Teddy. Get off the tracks. You're crazy." Chris said, trying to convince him.
"Teddy, please, get off," Kaitlyn said.
"Train dodge. Dig it." Teddy said, not even looking at the other five kids.
The train was getting closer and everyone was getting more and more alarmed.
"Get the hell off the tracks," Chris said, pissed off at this point, "You wanna get yourself killed?"
"Just like the beach at Normandy," Teddy said, before imitating a shooting gun.
Chris threw his sleeping bag off his shoulder and ran to get Teddy off the tracks.
Kaitlyn couldn't hold back the gasp that was lodged in her throat once she saw Chris on the tracks too.
"Come on, man," Chris said trying to pull him off the tracks.
"No! No!" Teddy screamed at Chris who was pulling him off the tracks.
The two were off the tracks, after practically wrestling with each other.
Vern, Ella, and Kaitlyn held back Teddy the best they could while Gordie stood behind Chris holding his arms down.
The words they screamed at each other didn't register in any of the kid's minds as they were in the middle of adrenaline.
"I'm just trying to save your life, man. You wanna kill yourself? Is that what you want, goddamn it? You tried to kill yourself!" Chris shouted at Teddy, not falling silent until the train fully passed.
The look Teddy was giving Chris was truly deadly and the three holding onto him let go.
"I don't need no babysitter." Teddy finally said, ending the silence.
"You do too," Chris said back quietly.
Teddy's dark glare didn't ease one bit.
"Skin it," Chris said holding his hand out.
Teddy shook his head, "I coulda dodged it."
Teddy walked away from the group and Kaitlyn sent Chris a sad smile and rubbed his arm comfortingly.
Chris, always the one wanting to mend things, followed after Teddy and turned him around so he'd be facing him, "Listen, Teddy, you can dodge it on the way back, man."
Teddy didn't say anything in response, so Chris started to pull his hand out, "Peace. Skin it."
The two stared at each other for a moment before Teddy accepted silently and gave him some skin.
Chris patted Teddy one time hard on the shoulder and walked away to grab his sleeping bag. He sent Kaitlyn and kind smile which she returned.
Everyone silently followed after Teddy, who already returned to following the tracks.
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a/n and here is chapter four :)) I hope you all love it. Make sure to vote and comment, it means a lot! chapter five coming next week!!
- With love, Hannah ♡