Astounded

By JudyL

April 9 2010

Universe: OW

Summary - Response to 1hr fic challenge on Vin F&D list: the boys head home from a long day

Length – 810 words

 

“I can’t believe it!” JD exclaimed gesturing excitedly. “Did you see that?”

Josiah grinned. “We all saw it, John Dunne.”

“Yeah, well, I still can’t believe it,” JD said, looking back over his shoulder at the source of his amazement.

Buck punched him on the shoulder. “Watch where you’re going, kid or you’ll fall off your horse.”

JD rubbed his arm and glared at Buck. “Yeah, right.” But that didn’t seem to dampen his enthusiasm as he twisted again. “I still can’t believe it.”

Ezra chuckled, sending an impish grin at Vin. “Why is that, Mr. Dunne?”

Chris rolled his eyes as Vin grumbled.

“You saw! It was… it was…”

“Improbable?” Ezra offered.

“Yeah, improbable,” JD repeated with a nod of his head. “I mean, how far away were you?  And those guys were behind those rocks. How did you know where to aim? I just can’t believe it!”

“We heard you the first time, JD,” Nathan said with a fond grin. He was just as amazed as JD, but the boy seemed to be overly excited by the spectacle they’d witnessed. How had he done it? Nathan looked over at Vin. “How did you do it?”

Vin ducked his head and shrugged.  “T’weren’t nothin’.”

Chris chuckled. “Seemed like somethin’ to me,” he said, his grin broadening at Vin’s obvious discomfort.

“Me, too,” Buck agreed from the front of the group. “What I can’t figure out is why you didn’t use your new rifle.”

Vin snorted. “Dang thing jammed. I’m gonna take that new fangled thing back to Watson’s and go back to using my trusty old rifle.

“Wouldn’t it have been easier to use your pistol if the rifle was unavailable?” Ezra asked with a frown as he tried to analyze his memory of the event.

“Nah, wasn’t sure it would be enough force to bring ‘em down,” Vin replied.

“Logical,” Josiah said with a nod. “Still, it was a heck of a sight.”

Vin rolled his eyes. “Come on, I’m so hungry my stomach thinks my throat’s been cut.” He kicked Peso up to a trot and moved past the others heading back toward town.

Ezra grinned at Chris. “The man is too modest.”

Chris chuckled. “But he gets right to the point of the matter, I’m hungry too,” he added, urging his horse to follow the tracker.

“Hey!”JD shouted, “You still didn’t tell me how you knew that would work… Vin!” he yelled, kicking Dancer into a gallop.

Buck whooped and gave chase, leaving Nathan, Josiah and Ezra ambling along behind, contemplating their latest adventure.

“It truly was a sight to behold,” Ezra said, resisting the urge to join the others in an unseemly public display, despite the fact that his belly was also rumbling. They’d all missed breakfast to answer the telegram from Eagle Ridge.

“That it was,” Josiah agreed. They’d managed to meet the bank robbers head on as they tried to escape Eagle Ridge’s posse. The robbers had angled off into some low, rocky hills and been trapped between the two groups. Unfortunately, for the seven, the standoff that had started almost before the sun cleared the horizon lasted well into the afternoon.

“Glad nobody got hurt too badly,” Nathan said with heartfelt relief. A few of the bank robbers had permanent holes, and many from both sides had some creases from close calls and other assorted scrapes and bruises, but somehow all of his friends evaded major injury and Nathan felt a celebratory dinner sounded really good about now. “Think we should catch up?” he asked. “You know, before Buck eats everything?”

Josiah rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “You have a good point there, Nathan.” They shared a conspiring look and with matching yells, raced off toward town.

Ezra coughed at the cloud of dust and held Chaucer firmly in check so the gelding wouldn’t follow his stable mates. “Now, now, we must comport ourselves like gentlemen.” Chaucer snorted and shook his head, but settled back into a high prancing walk. Ezra considered Vin’s amazing feat, wondering if there weren’t some way to turn a buck from the man’s skill. He snorted and shook his head. Undoubtedly the tracker would laugh at him if he suggested trying to set up a contest. Oh well. It would certainly make a good tale for the tables. He might even be able to squeeze a few dollars out of it if he had people guess the outcome.

Ezra grinned and allowed Chaucer to pick up the pace. Yes, that was a grand idea. After all, who would believe that their sharpshooter would take out a band of outlaws with a well placed rock aimed at yet another well placed rock? He still couldn’t believe that Vin had hit just the right spot to cause a mini-avalanche to fall on the bandits. It truly was an amazing feat.

The end

Feedback is greatly appreciated. JudyL

 

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