Author: BmblBee
Rating: Adult (Although more story than sex)
Paring: S/X
Disclaimer: The BmblBee makes no money off her
stories and owns nothing. Including the characters.
Summary: HAU This short story is a follow-up to
White Lightnin'. It takes place in the early 1940's
and is a quick peek to see how things are going for
our boys on their mountain home.
Xander lifted and dropped his shoulders. He cracked his neck
as he tipped his head to each side to relieve the tension.
He had been standing here the better part of an hour and
the weight of the bundle in his arms was beginning to feel like
a thousand pounds.
Hattie Miller was next. Her furs were always of superior quality.
Hattie could do any thing a man could do on the mountain, only
usually better.
Xander couldn't say for sure how old she was, but seemed like
she had always been there.
He remembered as a child hearing his parents talk about Hattie's
first husband getting shot up in the big war. Everybody was
surprised when only a few years later, she married again.
Wasn't long before everybody knew she had made a mistake.
Hattie knew it too. Probably a good thing she never had
no kids with either man.
Clyde was younger than her, maybe that was the attraction.
Couldn't have been nothin' else. Came in from the city with
slicked back hair and a lot of fake charm.
Clyde spent his evenings in the bars and beds of the town's
floosies. Everybody saw it.
Hattie knew it too but kept her head high.
The good women in town respected that but still gossiped about
her ruthlessly.
When she did confront him about his drinking and discretions
the rows were loud enough to be heard on half the mountain.
Word was that he could fight as well as he could drink,
but lord knows Hattie was no slouch in the fist department
either.
Wasn't nobody surprised when he found himself with a knife in
his chest after one of those knock down drag outs.
Law looked into it, but didn't nothin' come of it.
Legal and illegal is one thing, but right and wrong is not always
that clear.
Mountain justice takes on its own. The matter was dropped
and Hattie went on with her life. She never did take on another
man.
Xander shifted from foot to foot and watched impassively as
she continued to stand firm on her price.
Letting his mind wander, Xander smiled as he thought about
Spike and wondered what he was up too.
'Wonder if he found anything interesting.' Xander snickered,
knowing there was nothing interesting in this small town.
And yet even in the years he was away at college he knew he
would return.
No matter what happened in his life he would always return.
Turning his back on the haggeling going on at the table, Xander
looked up the store's aisleway and out the glass front window
again wondering where his lover was.
Directly across the stree from the general store was one of the
town's many run down bars. The Draught House.
Seemed sad in these tough times.
Most people had trouble feeding their families, yet there was
always money for booze.
Xander felt the familiar stab of guilt as he remembered all the years
he had run shine and played a big part in helping to take food out of
the mouths of those kids. Spike was always telling him to stop with
the self kicking, but it was not that easy.
Then, cutting into his self lothing, something odd caught his eye.
Squinting, it looked for all the world like Spike standing
outside that bar.
But the really strange part was the men he seemed to be talking
to. Three scruffy good ole boy types. Men that Spike could
not possibly have known.
And if it was Spike why the fuck did one of them have his
arm around Spike's shoulders? Some of these guys could be
dangerous as hell.
Still, it didn't look like Spike was being threatened.
It looked like he was laughing.
I looked like they were trying to coax him inside.
"Hey! You here to sell them furs or not? I got people waiting
and don't have time for bull shit."
Xander turned quickly to see that it was his turn.
"Oh, yea, sorry."
He dropped his bundle on the table while the buyer started
sorting them out.
Glancing back he was dismayed to see that the sidewalk was
now empty. All the men had either walked away or, God forbid,
gone into the bar.
"Hey! I ask you if that price was acceptable."
Xander hadn't heard a word, but knew from the look on the
furrier's face and the sparkle in his eye that he was about to
be screwed so he tossed out a general "Fuck you."
and went on with his own thoughts.
Maybe it wasn't Spike at all. I really didn't get a good look
at him.
Besides, what if it was. Spike is a grown man. He can go
where he wants, and with who he wants.
None of my concern.
'Besides I got too much faith in him to think he'd go drinking
again'
Turning back to the business at hand, Xander knew it was his
turn to lead in this dance. Snatching up his entire bundle of skins
he tossed and evil look at the buyer and started to walk away.
"O.k., O.k. Shit boy. You drive a hard bargain. I hope you
appreciate that I am paying you top dollar for all your furs.
Gonna ruin an honest businessman like me. Costing me
money like this."
Xander watched as he counted out an astonishing amount of
cash and tossed it on the table. Xander quickly snatched it
up and smiling, counted it again.
"Thanks, Dave. See you next month."
Xander pocketed his riches and headed out to the street.
It was still to early for lunch so he might as well get their
other errands done and out of the way.
He looked off to the left towards the hardware store and thought
about picking up the nails and construction items they needed.
He considered going back into the general store for the seeds
for the planting and collecting their supplies especially the coffee
and flour.
He even considered jumping in the car and running down to the
lumber yard at the end of town to place their lumber
order. He knew he had enough money to pay for most of it
already.
Xander stood there for a few minutes trying to decide which of
those things he would do first. In the end he discarded them all
and started across the street.
He headed straight for the Draught house, and he wasn't thirsty.