Little Blue Strings

Little Blue Snippets VII

"So... You... Like Evelyn, don't you?" he asks, sitting down on the porch.

Richard chokes on air, erupting into a coughing fit.

"Wh-What?" he wheezes, thumping himself on the chest.

"You look at her differently. You like her," Ezra insists.

"I do not--"

"--You do too."

"I just..." Richard sighs. "Well, she is beautiful...and she's very kind... I suppose I might like her. But only a little bit."

Ezra raises an eyebrow. "Just a little bit? Here, have this back."

Ezra hands Richard a small, leather-bound book.

"H-Hey! That's my journal!" Richard exclaims, hurriedly taking it back and tucking it against himself.

"You left it on the table the last time you visited. If you didn't want people reading it, than you shouldn't have left it wide open, to that particular page."

Richard pouts, turning the journal over in his hands. "Well..."

"Well? Do you like Evelyn, or not?"

Richard sighs, running a hand through his hair. "Fine! I do, ok? Just don't tell her! At least, not yet. Please?"

Ezra rolls his eyes, but agrees to stay quiet. "Alright. But if you decide to court my sister, and you hurt her in any way, you'll have to answer to me."

Richard looks a little startled. "I promise I won't! I would never!"

Ezra breaks into a smile. "I'm joking, Richard. I know you wouldn't lay a finger on her."

Richard grins in return, playfully punching Ezra in the arm. Ezra hits him back, harder than Richard expects. Of course, he has to hit back just a little bit harder, which means that Ezra must do so as well. By the time Mrs. Thompson calls them in for dinner, they are both covered in dust and a few bruises, and are laughing the pain away.

...

Ezra sits up in the old willow, out of sight. In his lap is little Poppy, a fluffy black pullet. She is from Molly's last brood. The poor old girl died only a few months ago of old age. He strokes her soft feathers, and she settles down, clucking softly.

He looks out from between the branches. He can see the fields and the barn, and the farmhouse, just down the hill aways. The town is further away; it looks rather small from here. It's a little pond of shops and houses, at the end of a little dirt road. On that dirt road, he can see two outlines, walking toward the farmhouse. They look dark in the twilight, and their identities are hidden by the shadows, but he already knows who they are. It is Richard, returning Evelyn home.

Richard had asked her to come with him to the river. He had also requested that Ezra come along as well, but Ezra had declined. He still doesn't know why he turned down the offer. Maybe he just wanted to give the two some space to figure out their feelings. Maybe it was because he just wasn't feeling all that well. He has been a bit under the weather lately. Or...or maybe it was that everytime he saw Richard steal a glance at Evelyn, then blush and turn away, he felt a twinge of jealousy mixed with loneliness.

He sorts through Poppy's feathers, shaking his head and muttering to himself. "No," he says. "Not right..."

Poppy makes a crooning, understanding sound, cokcing her head to the side to look at Ezra.

"He's my closest friend, you know," he says sadly to the chicken. "Well, aside from Jonathan... But I never told a soul about him. I... I love my friends and all, but I shouldn't love Richard like this... I doubt you'd understand... Humans are complicated."

Poppy pecks absently at Ezra's shirt. He smiles.

"I wish I could be you for a day. Everything must be so simple when you're a chicken."

Poppy clucks a few times, as if in agreement.

"Come on, Poppy. It's time we put you in for the night."

As he climbs down with Poppy under his arm, he pauses, looking down the hill at the two silhouettes. Evelyn and Richard. Their shadows intertwine briefly, coming together in what Ezra knows is a kiss. A twinge jabs his heart, and he draws in a quick breath.

"Complicated," he says to Poppy. "All too complicated."