The Cooper Chronicles

Cornfields crowded on either side, cattle mooing as they grazed on the next plot down the dusty dirt road.  Could the summer sun be more relentless than midday of their longest season?

Did dancing air mean anything if no one else observed it or was it as confounding as a tree fallen with the technicality of no human to hear the crash?

Who could think at a time like this?

The boy blinked what little sweat was left on his bronzed brow as it slid into his eyes, stinging the reddened whites all the more.  Lanky and cast several shades darker by his own drench, his frame moved about the stalks with ears green and only a bit more growing to be done.

Mazes were fun in the fall come celebration of the heatwaves breaking and plentiful harvests providing communal family feasts, but for now there was nothing that would leave a native feeling at all amazed.

“Jungles and tundras, oceans and moons,” the fellow grumbled, “plenty of planets and multiple dimensions and I’m stuck here!”  Had he moisture left in his mouth he’d spit but all that was wet was outside of himself, and so he gasped, “Why was I forsaken to Hell?”

What is an angry cry without a god to witness it?

---

Several sets of big blue eyes watched as he brought his sullied self onto the porch.  Ripping off his outer layers, pale pinkish skin was exposed on his torso down to the waistline of his boxers and from the edges of the leg-holes down to his ankles.  He shook his head to rinse out the wheat-colored hair if only to spare the home’s shower from a little less yuck.

“Let him through,” a woman chimed, “it’s just your brother, the same as always!”

“The only big brother you lot have got!” he shot at the children as he passed through the doorway on his way toward the bathroom.

One of the girls piped, “No, there’s Cammy too!”

Her lookalike chirped, “Cam’s never here!”

The brunet their age exaggerated exasperation, “Great, now sissies squabblin’ again!”

The triplets’ tirades sounded like tornado sirens but their older sibling paid no attention, nor to the chiding of their mother from the kitchen.  Locked in the little tile room, he turned on the shower and waited for the hot flash to pass to cool currents before stepping under and washing.

Hair still spiked from his time in the shower, it had softened as had his temper since dinner was done.  Dishes handed to their mother, she chastised the younger ones for attempting to evade standing by as her aids.

Cicadas, crickets, the creek not far downhill that ran into a cave somewhere under their feet… the night was noisy as usual.

“Keeping cool?” came a caw.

He huffed without giving the housecat-sized griffin a glance, “Can’t til the leaves fall.”

The orange orbs of eyes looked out into the trees before refocusing on the boy.  Black feathers and fur moved into the light from the doorway between porch and house so as to be clearly seen by the friendly human before approaching to curl about his long legs.

“Outwardly true,” the cat-bird cooed, “but I meant inside of you.”

Had anyone ever suffocated from a long sigh?

The moon hung high when he muttered, “I have to.”

---

Evie and Ellie were braiding their browning-blonde curls.

“Can I be prettier?” Ellie asked.

“No,” Evie retorted, “we’re same prettiness.”

“I’m nicer though,” Ellie made her case, “so I’m sweeter.  And candy is sweet, so I’m better.”

“You’re stupid,” Evie asserted, “and no one likes heads filled with only air.”

“Meanie!”

“Dumby!”

“You’re sourer than bad lemons!”

“You’re bigger waste than ice cubes in snow!”

Elijahwailed, “Mooooom!”

Carson came through the front door, it slamming slightly behind him.  “Can’t you all chill for once?” he scolded, “It’s too early for you’re cawing and I can hear it all the way down the road!”

The pools peered at the older figure and then flipped to the woman as she entered the living room and spoke to her eldest, “Carson, freshen up, we don’t have time to lollygag.”

He sighed, “Yes ma’am.”  The sun was just starting to seep over the skyline and had not yet significantly penetrated the light curtains and window panes.  Feed had been hurled to the livestock, waterholes checked fill and freshness, and he needed to splash his face and find his Sunday best before they took the trip to town.

Bored brunette slowly wrapped her arms around him.  Her irises matched but began to disappear as lids sank and lifted only to linger longer before dropping again.  What was sweat sticking to them when sticking together was at least better than sitting separately?

Bailey, he breathed in her scent contentedly, having never known anything strike him sweeter.  When do I ask you for what’s next?

Children shrieked and laughed as they chased each other and gossiped.  A baby cried til it’s mother released her breast and it latched.  Two toddlers grabbed at the bigger kids as they paraded and pranced, playing some game that looked to the uninitiated as some obscure performance to prove prominence.  Boys strutted before girls who glanced and giggled in response, elders eyed the likes of the youngsters and made their bets who would marry who when years passed.  Mothers enjoyed catching up and comparing their children with each other, cooing over the cute ones and awing over any who reminded the women of men several years missing….

“Molly, have you heard from Cameron recently?”

The mother of the multiples practically sang what she said, “Oh yes, just two days ago we got a letter from him!”

Another woman nosed her way into the conversation, “Does he really like it there?  Is he doing well or do you think he’s fibbing so you feel better?”

A light chuckle, “Oh my sweet Cam could never lie in any way without his dear old mama catching on quick!  No, he’s doing so well and having such a wonderful time at City Center.  Says he’s been learning so much about life and meeting all kinds of people and—,” she went on and on, as she always did, about her precious carrot-top living away from home.

“Carson?”

He had not realized how tense he had become at the mention of his twin til he heard his name spoken softly by Bailey.  Her eyelashes batted as her face turned up toward his.

“Are you okay?”

He flashed her a smile and calmly promised, “Of course.  Just… you know how it is, being Cam’s brother; I may as well be a bastard.”

She told him, “You can’t blame them for asking about him.  Even I get curious what his life is like now that he’s gone.”

Surely she had no comprehension how deeply that sentiment stabbed his heart.  He rubbed her shoulder as he simply said, “Yup.”

“Carson,” a voice similar to Bailey’s rang, “if you marry my sister, can Cameron marry me?”

Carson’s crush scoffed at her, “You’re a kid and Cam’s surrounded by women from all over the place every single day; you don’t stand a chance so let the dream go!”

Froggy face reddened as Blanche fumed, “I’m not that much younger than you and Cam only just left less than a year ago, so clearly he’s barely grown himself if I’m still a baby too!”

“I think my brother is not here and we shouldn’t talk like it’s any different.”

They had heard the strain his his voice.  Elder sister demanded of the younger, “Apologize.”

She folded her arms and looked to the toes of her boots, “Sorry.”

He lied with a heavy sigh, “It’s fine, I really don’t care.”

Bailey suddenly sat straighter and a tad separated from her male counterpart.  She yelled out into the clearing, “Blaise, stop beating on the small ones!”  She frowned at Blanche, “Go stop him and collect Brandon and Brennalee won’t you?”

“Why can’t you get off your butt?”

“Because I’m bonding with my boy,” she shot back and then fiercely pointed toward their younger siblings, “now go wrangle them!”

Carson cooked over the grills with a few other fellows.  One not many years older nudged his shoulder with his own, “Couldn’t help but notice you and that Bailey Anne together.”  The sing-song whimsy alluded to an incoming tease.

Before any taunt could come, another gentleman, this one just months younger, interjected, “You’re sure you wanna settle for her?”

A flame of fury flared within his chest, “What d’ya mean by that?”

The younger cleared his throat.  “You could do better.”

Teal eyes rolled like seawater spilling over, “Better like the mamas you both keep foolin’ ‘round with?”

“No wonder your daddy only kept cattledogs and hounds,” the comment was an attempt to clear the newly-constructed tension, “he had you to guard his wife.”

But any potential softening was swiftly derailed by the elder of the trio and his comment, “Bet you were thrilled when your dad was called out with the others, weren’t you Car?”

This was not the first time such a situation had arisen during Sunday Celebration.  And so Carson kept his anger to himself, turning back to his grill and the smoking meats that sat over flaming charcoal.

“Best lay off,” younger advised elder, “else he’ll slide you down to the devil come dark.”

“Nah,” elder snorted, “he does that and I’ll make a deal with the devil for his mommy and he knows it!”

The younger inhaled sharply before letting a single “oof” escape him.

Slide him down to the devil, send him up into space to be probed by an antagonistic alien race… there was quite a collection of concepts Carson had built up for if he ever needed to have the bully done away with for good reason.