Young In America | Barns Courtney

Four Leaf Clover

The sound of a knock on the door caught my attention. Luckily I had just finished the Sherlock Holmes story I was reading. It was "The Redheaded league" to be exact; one of my favorites. It reminded me of how much I missed watching Jeremy Brett perform as Holmes on the tv screen. Brett is by far the best interpretation of Sherlock Holmes in my opinion. I pressed my thoughts to the back of my mind as I sat my book aside. I looked out of the peephole to see Barns standing in the hallway. "I found all the books you wanted." I said after opening the door to let him in. "Oh, good. Thanks." He said. I could tell that his mind was somewhere else, but I didn't say anything about it. He had been gone most of the day, and I had a feeling it was stressful.

I closed the door behind him and watched as he sat some takeout bags on a nearby table. I stood and watched as he ruffled his hair a little. It was as if he was in deep thought. "You okay?" I asked curiously as I walked over to him. "Huh? Oh... yeah. I'm just thinking. Sorry." He replied. "It's okay." I said with a small smile. I walked over to grab the bag of books and sat them on the table. Letting him know what was inside of the bag. "Thanks for picking them up for me. I really appreciate it." He replied with a small smile on his face. "No problem. It's the very least I can do for everything you've done for me." I said. The look in his blue eyes softened a little as he glanced at the books in the bag.

"Let's eat. I'm starving." He said, changing the subject. My stomach growled and I hoped that he wasn't able to hear it. Just because I would feel embarrassed if he did. He had some cheap paper plates and plastic cutlery. The food smelled delicious as we divided everything up between us. We sat at the small table in the room and ate quietly. I glanced out of the window every now and then. The horizon was painted red, orange, and pink by the sitting sun. "I was wondering if maybe tomorrow we could go drive around. It's my first time in this town, and I'd like to take in the sights." He said, breaking the comfortable silence.

"Sure, but... there really isn't much around here to see. It's not a very interesting town." I replied after taking a sip of water. "That's okay. I don't mind a quiet drive just admiring the scenery." He said with a small smile. I smiled softly and continued eating. A few moments passed before I realized that we would most likely be riding around on his yellow motorcycle. It made me feel a little nervous, especially since I don't have much experience in rising motorcycles. 'Hopefully everything will go well regardless.' I thought as I finished eating dinner. We threw our trash away before saying goodnight to each other. I knew he probably wasn't going to go to sleep right away. I figured he just wanted to be alone in his room so he could relax.

After he left my room I locked the door behind him. I sat down on my bed and continued reading my book. Around midnight I started feeling sleepy, so I decided to get ready for bed. I wondered what tomorrow would bring as I slowly drifted off to sleep.

• • •

The next morning I was awakened by shouting. 'What the hell is going on?' I wondered as I sleepily rubbed my eyes. After a moment I realized people were arguing on the street outside. I glanced over at the clock to see that it was nine o'clock in the morning. I slowly got out of bed and walked into the bathroom, getting ready for the day. Once I was dressed there was a knock on my door. I walked over and opened it to see Barns standing in the hallway. He was wearing a black t-shirt and what looked like black jeans. "I got us breakfast. After eating we can head out." He said as he walked inside my room. "Okay." I replied as I closed the door behind him.

We sat down and ate breakfast quietly. I glanced up at him every now and then. As I did so I noticed that he had dark circles under his eyes. 'He probably was up late last night.' I thought and figured maybe he was up reading. Especially since he seemed like he really needed the books I picked for him yesterday. When we were finished eating we threw our trash away. I looked outside at the golden sunlight and finished my coffee. "I'll go brush me teeth and I'll be ready to go." He said as he stood up. "Okay. I have to brush my teeth too." I replied. After he left my room I walked into the bathroom. I bushed my teeth and grabbed my door key.