“You’re never gonna catch me like that, pretty boy!”
He stopped to catch his breath, bending over and heaving heavily against the refusal of his lungs to take in any useful amount of air. He was about eight, the same as the taunting boy in front of him. He had long black hair, pulled back into a messy ponytail, although some of it hung loose into his face.
“Cut it out, Dog,” he finally gasped when he had enough air to.
The other boy jogged back over to him, running a hand threw his oily blond hair. “What am I gonna do with you, pretty boy? You can’t even get from the front door to the well without passing out.”
“I’m not-,” he stopped to take a few more deep breathes. “I’m not going to pass out. I just need a minute.”
Dog huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re the saddest pretty boy there ever was.”
“Stop calling me that!” The other boy found enough strength to both yell and push him.
Dog laughed as he stumbled back. “There ya go! I knew you had it in you!” The boy’s face suddenly straightened and got very serious. “Can we go now before my dad finds out I’m gone?”
“Yeah.”
They didn’t get three steps before someone came out of the house after them.
“Junior!” James yelled from the door. He spotted the boys just a few feet away and waved his hand in the air, indicating he wanted them to come over to him.
“Or -your- dad,” Dog hissed, narrowing his greenish gold eyes at his friend. They walked back over to the house. One walked because he was in no hurry to get there, the other because he didn’t have the stamina to go any faster.
“Father,” he greeted politely.
James merely grinned down at his son. “You aren’t doing too much are you?”
“No, Father!” He rolled his eyes at him.
“Just be sure you don’t. You don’t want to be back in bed for weeks at a time do you? Your mother doesn’t need that added stress, does she?” James asked.
“No, sir.”
“Good. Vincent, my boy. I haven’t seen your father all day, is he okay?”
“Oh,” Dog paled slightly under the older man’s glaze and looked to his best friend. “He’s here. I think he’s just down at the stables or something.”
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll find him.” He smiled and ruffled the boy’s hair and tried not to grimace at the feel of it under his hand.
“Anyway!” He clapped his massive hands together as his smile stretched into a large grin. “I have quite a surprise for you, junior. Well, I guess it’s for both of you, since you seemed to be conjoined.”
The two boys eagerly looked to each other.
“What is it, Father?”
“We have a new resident at the house.” Both boys narrowed their eyes at them in unison, making James chuckle. “Rose, dear, you can come out now,” he called into the doorway.
Attentively, a small foot came outside. It was soon followed by the rest. The shy foot belonged to a girl, about the same height as the boys. She had obedient, red curls that neatly cascading down her back, and clear, honey colored eyes. She lifted a hand in greeting, but stayed relatively inside the doorway. Dog and junior starred unblinkingly at her.
“Come now, don’t be shy,” James smiled at her and took her hand, pulling her further outside. “May I introduce Miss Rose Liere. Miss Liere, this is my son James jr. and his best friend Vincent. Vincent’s father is the groundskeeper here. They’ve known each other for forever but I’m sure they’ll let you play. Won’t you boys?”
“Sure,” Dog immediately answered. “You can call me Dog, everyone else does,” he told her, showing his crooked teeth with a wide grin.
“She’s living here?” James jr. said in confusion.
“Yes, James,” he father said and patted the girl’s smaller hand in his. “Her father is a widower and a shipping merchant, so he isn’t home a lot. He thought it would be better for her to be in a house with other kids around than with nannies or a boarding school. And I think another child in the house would actually be good for your mother as well.”
The man’s eyes suddenly vacated a bit but he snapped himself back. “So, I’ll leave the three of you to get acquainted. Miss Liere, I hope you’ll feel at home here and please feel free to get me if you need anything.”
“Thank you, Mr. Howlett,” the girl spoke up for the first time; her voice was bell like, although it was strong and sure.
“James, please,” he corrected her, then turned his attention to the two boys whom were starring hard at the small girl beside him.
“Boys. Behave.” He issued the strong warning before disappearing into the house.
The three children stood in an awkward triangle, everyone looking down at their feet. Rose finally stepped closer to them and clasped her hands behind her back. “Hi...”
Junior looked up from the ground with wide blue eyes behind a curtain of black hair. “Hi...”
“Alright, we’ve all said ‘hi’. Can we -please- go now?” Dog said exasperated. “Its gonna take us forever to get there as it is since you’re probably gonna have to stop every five minutes.”
James jr.’s jaw drop as his head turned away from Rose to Dog. “Shut up!” He said as he pushed him, his cheeks bright red.
Dog laughed and slapped him back on the arm. “Let’s go, pretty boy. You commin’?” he asked, eyeing Rose.
“Yeah,” she replied, still smiling at James Jr. “Yeah, I’m coming.”
*************
Three years later....
“What the hell is taking so long?” Dog snapped as he paced up and down the marble floored hallway.
James ignored him, simply remained resting against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. His calm demeanor frustrated the annoyed Dog even more and he grunted and punched the wall. At the vibration James opened his eyes.
“Just clam down,” he told his friend, “she said she was coming.”
“Pft. Calm down he says,” Dog mumbled as he paced. “Your dad isn’t going to beat the shit out of you for being late.”
“I told you to tell my father about it,” James said as he uncrossed his arms. “He’d talk to him, or let you move in with us. Something.”
Dog snorted. “Why the hell would I want to live with the pretty boy and the princess? I can take it. -I’m- not a wuss.”
“Hey! Don’t call Master James that!” A tiny voice suddenly shrieked from behind him. The two boys looked to the supplier. A much smaller girl, carrying a basket of linens was standing there. Her tiny face was scrunch up in a less than intimating scowl; she had to blow the long bangs out of her face to give him a brief view of the glare she was sending him.
Dog rounded around to her. “Buzz off, brat.”
At the approach of the tall boy she scurried back a couple of steps, pulling her basket closer to her chest.
James grabbed Dog’s arm as he stepped beside him. “Leave her alone,” he said with an exasperated sigh.
“Me?” Dog huffed. “She’s the one that came in here yelling.”
“You...” She stopped to sweep more of the tangle mass of brown hair out of her face. “You’re nothin’ but a bully!”
“That’s enough from both of you,” James snapped. Dog continued to mumble on under his breathe but the girl immediately stood straighter and pressed her lips firmly together.
Then someone tapped his shoulder and he turned around to find Rose, smiling big at him. “I’m ready now.”
“‘Bout damn time,” Dog snapped.
“Watch your mouth,” James sneered at him and sent an apologetic look to Rose.
The girl in front of them bit her lip and she gave another attempt at pushing her hair away from her face. “Go? Where...where are you guys going?”
“Out.” Dog growled. “Let’s go.”
“Can I come?” She asked, her eyes traveling between Rose and James.
“You?” Dog huffed. “You want to come with -us-? Don’t you have chores to do?”
Her face reddened and her nose wrinkled up in the familiar scowl. “You’re no better than me! You’re dad is just the groundskeeper!”
“Oh, yeah?—“ Dog stepped towards her but James’ arm shot out and stopped him. He shot him a warning glare, making the taller boy step back.
“Please, master James,” the girl asked again, pushing her bangs out of her big green eyes. “I just have to drop these linens down to the kitchen than I could be ready!” She looked down, nervously picking weaving of the basket. “You guys always look like you have so much fun, I–“
Dog interrupted her with a snort. “When are you going to realize you’re nothing but a pest?”
“She’s not a pest,” James immediately said. But when he turned back the girl he frowned. “I don’t know...we...we kind of have to leave now.”
“Yes,” Rose stepped forward, laying a hand on James’ arm. “And we’re going to the quarry. You’re a little too young to be down there. You could get hurt.”
“Yeah,” Dog seconded with a smirk on his face. “You could get hurt, little girl.”
“But I,” she whispered, then bit her lip again.
“How about when I get back?” Rose offered. “We could braid each other’s hair? Just you and me.”
The girl didn’t bother to move any hair out of her face and just shook her head. “I...I’ll probably have to help Auntie with dinner then.”
“Maybe next time, Marie,” James said, pulling Rose forward. Dog smiled and waved at her as they went passed then the three kids immediately took off in a run towards the door.
The late afternoon sun moved behind the clouds just as they came up the quarry. It wasn’t an expansive space, just a large outlet taken out of the side of a tall hill, boulders and rocks piled and scattered around it.
Dog was far ahead of the others and scurried up one of the smaller boulders without slowing down. He grinned as he looked around the place and waited for his companions.
“Man, do I love this place!” He declared, scooping up a hand full of pebbles off the ground.
James held Rose’s hand as she tried to climb up a near by rock, her eyes were carefully glued to the end of her skirt. “You just like that it’s a death trap waiting to happen,” she accused him but she had a smile on her face.
Dog acted offended, and the small stones fell from his hand to the boulder under him. “We have -never- let you get hurt, Rosie-Posie. Have we, pretty boy?”
“Nope,” James answered, as he ducked his head behind a fissure in the rocks.
Rose giggled and sat down, still mindful of her dress. “Oh, yes, two strong men I have.”
Dog barked and lifted his arms up, making a show of flexing his muscles. Rose busted out laughing and Dog looked to see if James was doing the same thing but only found the back of his legs dangling over a rock.
“What are you doin’?” He asked skeptically.
James huffed and sat up. “I can’t find those stupid gloves my father gave me. I must have left them here last time.”
“The leather ones?” Dog asked, his green-gold eyes going wide.
“Yes.”
“With the stitching?”
“-YES-, Dog, the expensive, ‘be care with these, now’ ones,” James huffed and turned back around to continue looking.
Rose sighed and shook her head, “Oh, James.”
Dog jumped down off his boulder and began walking around, moving rocks, evidently helping his friend look. “I don’t suppose you remember the last place you had them, pretty boy?”
“Yeah. Here.”
“I think you should leave the cuteness up to your face, pretty boy,” Dog huffed and went back to searching around the massive boulders.
“Maybe when you were–“ A fit of deep coughing from James interrupted Rose. She frowned as his body rocked with the coughs, until he eventually had to sit down on the ground. Carefully she slid down from her perch on the rock and kneeled in front of him.
“You’re getting sick again.” There was no question in her hushed voice.
“No,” he hurriedly answered and cleared his throat. “I think I just swallowed some dust.”
“James,” Rose gently chided. “We have to get you back.”
“I’m fine, Rose.”
She shook her head but said nothing more and they got up and helped Dog look around the quarry. They searched until the entire quarry was covered in shadows. Still, they had uncovered no gloves, only a few bug and more rocks. During the search James’ cough escalated to the point he could no longer help Rose and Dog look, but could only sit at the base of a tree and few feet away.
He looked up when they walked back slowly back to him. Both of them were covered in debris and Rose shook her head as she tried to wipe some of the dirt off her dress.
“I’m sorry, James,” she said.
His heart sunk into his stomach but he shrugged his shoulders and pushed up to his feet. “It’s alright. Thanks for trying, you guys.”
“You could tell your dad I lost them,” Dog offered.
“No, how about we don’t tell him anything.”
“James!” Rose yelled. “You have to tell him!”
“I don’t have to tell him a—“he busted into another fit off coughs, than dragged his shirt sleeve across his mouth. “Anything.”
Rose huffed and crossed her arms over chest. “I can’t believe you. What if he asks where they are?”
Dog suddenly laughed and elbowed James. “We could tell him the pest took them.”
James’ head wheeled around to him. “Really? You think he’d believe that?”
“James!” Rose yelled again.
“What?”
“No,” Dog stepped in front of his friend. “Listen, there’s no way she’d get in trouble for it. She’s like what? Five?”
“Six,” Rose corrected, her still flushed with anger.
“Alright then! Mr. Howlett would probably just buy him some new ones and drop it.”
“That’s true,” James agreed. “Any time she’s ever broken anything he’s just replaced it, not saying a word.”
“That’s because he knew it was an accident!” Rose yelled, throwing her arms down. “You two buffoons want to blame her with theft! What if he fires her aunt for it?”
“Jeez, Rose,” Dog said, taking a large step away from her. “Calm down, alright? Plan A is not to tell him anything, remember?”
“Ugh!!” She stomped her foot on the ground before shoving both of them out of her way. “You are mean, horrible boys! Both of you, just alike!”
She stormed across the field quickly and neither boy made a move to go after her. They stood as two blank states in front off the quarry and watched her ranting retreat. James’ cough finally got the better of him and he had to lean against the trunk of the tree again.
“Are you alright?” Dog asked.
“Yeah...” Suddenly he started laughing and offered his hand out in front him. “Just alike, the two of us.”
Dog grasped his hand in a shake laughing too. “You damn right, pretty boy. The two of us.”
“Come on,” James said standing up again. “We’d better get back before she decides to tell on us ahead of time.”
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