Buck’ Box 1

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“What about Wilmington?” Buck asked impatiently as Ezra opened the box.

“Never fear, Buck.  Your reputation is safe; Wilmington was quite a colorful character and as much of a ladies’ man as you are,” Ezra assured him pulling out a revolver and belt.

“These are both originals, though the leather of the holster is going.  I’m going to have to have it remade eventually,” Ezra cautioned them as they handed the piece around. 

“These were very special to Wilmington because Larabee gave them to him before the fire that took Sarah and Adam’s lives.  Like our Chris and Buck, they were very good friends, with Wilmington trying to help Larabee after their deaths, but he met with very little success in that venture,” Ezra went on.

“After the establishment of the seven in the town of Four Corners, Wilmington took their youngest member, JD Dunne, under his wing, almost as if the lad were his younger brother,” Ezra told them.  As Ezra reached into the box to pull out the sketches of Buck, he saw the curious but stubborn expression on JD’s face and clarified, “Dunne was only nineteen when he joined them in Four Corners, JD.  Yes, he was technically an adult, but having lived his entire life in the cities of the East, there many things about the West that he had to learn.”  JD nodded his understanding and took the picture that Ezra was holding out to him.

This particular picture showed both men in profile with Dunne in front of Wilmington.  It was obvious they were watching something, and the look of wonder and joy on Dunne’s face made him look as if he were sixteen.  All of them smiled as that one went around.  Several more followed, showing Wilmington alone or with random people.  One that caught Nathan’s eye showed Buck sitting on his horse, his shoulder covered in bandages.

“When was this?” Nathan asked as he examined what the sketch showed.  From what was here, it looked like Wilmington had caught a bullet in his left shoulder. 

“That was at the Seminole Village the first time they worked together,” Ezra told him.  “Josiah and Buck were the only ones of the group seriously injured in that incident.”  Ezra accepted the sketch back from Josiah and slipped it back down the edge of the box as he maneuvered the next item out.  What he pulled out was a painting a bit smaller than the one that already hung on the wall behind where he was sitting.

“For all of Wilmington’s chasing, he did finally get caught by a woman he had been pursuing since she arrived in the town some three and a half years before.”  With that Ezra turned it around to reveal a painting of Buck and Inez right in the middle of their wedding. 

Buck looked dumbfounded as everyone else broke up into howling laughter except Ezra, who just sat across from him grinning his head off.

This was Inez Recillos, the manager of the bar they frequented…who Buck had been trying to get a date with for the last two years.

 

 

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