The Demon Boy

Day Nine - Afternoon to Night

     Alicia seems to get the hint to stop prying after several aborted attempts in asking how Casper's day went. She drops the subject and abandons conversation altogether, funnily enough, to attend to her duties in the kitchen. Now that she's no longer bothering him, daddy dearest has been looming over his shoulder, silently pressuring him to scram already. Casper takes his sweet time chewing on the leftover heel of bread Alicia gave him, just to spite him.

     Alright, he's had his fun. Pa looks like he's going to have a fit if he pushes him any further. Casper just knows his bit of bread is going to be coming out of his tab, but he couldn't care less. He tucks the remaining half of his lunch in his pocket to save for dinner and leaves with a cheery goodbye. Alicia waves him off from the kitchen. Pa watches him go without acknowledging him.

     That went well.

     Casper wanders through town, finger laced behind his head, watching the clouds crawl above, wondering what else he should do today. The question answers itself when he spots the local boys milling by the manor road. It would seem they do make a habit of stationing themselves here after all. Casper checks the angles of where they're standing and where his shortcut through the churchyard runs; a rough estimate says he won't be visible save for that short stretch between the cover of the forest and the fence. A few dangerous seconds of open ground at full sprint. He'll have to be careful in the future.

     Casper strolls up to the group carefree as can be, as if he wasn't evaluating them as a potential threat. He begins to perk up in earnest when he sees Davis. The younger boys run up to him, as is their wont, screaming delighted gibberish over one another. Casper notes they express some amount of surprise at his coming, nor does he miss how the majority of the crowd was looking up the hill before the alarm was sounded.

     It would seem he's found the wellspring for the local rumor mill about him. All the more reason to make a good impression, see if he can't undo some of the damage.

     "'Hoy there! Sorry 'bout runnin' off on yous the last couple times. You wouldn't believe how many times I've been sent runnin' mad for somethin' or other since I got here." Casper huffs.

     "'S'awright. That uncle of yours giving you the run about?" Asks Davis.

     "And on a Sunday too!" A younger boy gasps.

     "Yeah, well, he ain't exactly the churchgoing type, if you know what I mean. No rest for the wicked," Casper shrugs.

     The mob 'ooh's and 'ahh's their commiserations. At least someone  has sympathy.

     Conversation turns to other things: complaints of hard work in the fields, catching trout in the river, the coming summer season. Everyone went quiet on the topic of summer. Then the subject changed and the prattling went on like it never happened, but even standing around, talking about genial nothingness gets dull after awhile. The younger boys are the first to fuss, the older soon following. Casper's getting restless himself. When he suggests playing pirates, for lack of any other idea of what to do, he finds himself facing enthusiastic approval. So, pirates it is then.

     There's a lengthy scuffle about who gets to be captain, first-mate, etc., but it eventually gets settled with the older boys getting the higher ranks while the younger get saddled with positions like deckhand. Casper gets an early promotion to second mate because it was his idea, and, as a result, becomes a subject of much admiration and envy from the boys his age and mild contempt from his ranking peers.

     The games begin and the motley crew goes rampaging around town and into the nearby fields. They show Casper all the best things: fields left to fallow and grow tall grass to play hide and seek in, the best places to catch fish, old man Farin's orchard at the bottom of the hill. They run. They laugh. They play. They make a nuisance of themselves and Casper can't recall the last time he's had so much fun. It's good to be part of a group again, lose himself in the bustle of a crowd. But all good things come to an end. Too soon does the sun set and the boys split ways to head for wherever it is they call home. Casper tags along with a few down his made-up route as far as he can, then watches them happily carry on without him. He doubles back and sneaks to the manor road and he goes home. Alone.