Author's Note:84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS8uikYL0Jp
Thank you for getting this far into the story! I promise that that a lot of your outstanding questions will answered in time. Hang in there.
Inside the tiny shack was just as simple as its owner. A wooden chair hugged a small table across the room and a sheet hammock hung slack behind it. To his left at the entrance stood a wood burning stove with an iron skillet resting atop it. A light layer of desert dust coated the room, apparently free-flowing from the window whenever a light wind would visit the home.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgbGMws6W60
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyNrpjYpaZ5
In the center of the room was an upside down clay flower pot, spot lit by the rays pouring in from the gap left in the shutters on the window.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaXvF6r2kiE
It was small, with enamel glaze or flowers on the outside that looked to be painted by a child. It rested on the dirt floor with a long crack down the side and paint that chipped at the edges. Still, Zeph decided to carefully walk around it and sit at the table.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQl3cf6FTi
Only moments passed before the man pushed open the shack door and took a few steps into the room. He spared a look at Zeph, sitting bare-cheeked in his only chair, before wordlessly shaking his head and setting down his things.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJf22bMEWgV
Zeph impatiently bounced his leg, watching the man set his basket on the ground next to the table and move around a pot and some utensils as if he was preparing to cook. He was rough looking; a thick raggy shirt draped from his shoulders and thicker pants clung drying mud to the fabric around his knees. He bore an unkempt, mostly grey beard and matching long grey hair that hid his aging face, leaving only his dark brown eyes and sun-spotted nose exposed to the elements.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZaK6fY473p
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ68zYtsUjA
Zeph interrupted the clamor of dinner preparation. “Uuuh, do you have any clothes by any chance?”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbQWEpxrUq2
The man didn't face him to reply, apparently addressing the kitchenware.“Nothing for nothing.”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT14lCqYyF2
It took a longer moment than Zeph would like to admit before he understood the man’s meaning before responding,“I have nothing to give.”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXlfADcLsEn
“And you get that in return,” but just as the man finished his sentence, movement caught Zeph’s eye from the center of the room.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3xHbrLqdfi
The pot wiggled.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5p9YCyY2Lc
The man spun around, quickly slicked back some droopy curls from his forehead and dropped to all fours, his head mere inches from the flower pot. With a free hand, he gently lifted it from the ground revealing a tiny, pinky-capped mushroom.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGDdvNkaI6s
The man drew his face so close to the mushroom that he nearly touched it with his nose, eyes crossed as he watched it. He listened to it. He paused for a moment before he spoke.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtu6SzBtE8l
“Well sure but he isn't a ‘somebody’, neither.” The man addressed the fungus, straining his eyes to maintain focus on it. Zeph watched the man speak to the mushroom in the middle of the room and began to wonder if entering this shack was a mistake.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKvz9buial3
“Well, I guess I don't.” He spoke again. There was a long pause as the man intently listened to the toadstool.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCr2ZAQdJYR
Zeph slapped both knees. “Welp, I guess I should be going.”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7kztcqSoDG
He started to roll forward in his chair when the man continued raising an insistent hand for Zeph to stay put.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ULGK04J26
“I guess that's true.” Seemingly satisfied, the mushroom man stood up, leaving the clay pot next to the mushroom. He turned around to fetch a small cup full of well water from a bucket in the corner.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNl5lA1sPOQ
“Go ahead and grab my spare garment from the chest behind you.” He sprinkled water and bone dust on the soil around the mushroom and replaced the clay pot.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwZnBMzLqTt
It took a moment for Zeph to realize the man was talking to him now. He looked behind the chair and found a small wooden chest on the floor. He retrieved the only set of clothes inside.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbLX0m8FaRS
While Zeph was busy getting dressed, the mushroom man skirted around him to his favorite and only chair. He spared a moment of still reprieve before bringing himself to use a small cloth to wipe the dubious shapes Zeph left behind in the dust with his naked rear.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWzzccYfjqH
“Baker,” the old man began. He pinched out the rest as he sat, enduring the creak of his old bones, “hadn’t been so busy before late.”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLUpMgMt9Mh
“Who’s Baker?”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBj8d4wP2cD
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwphGcyaCBF
“Aint a ‘who.’ Baker’s a town about 3 miles north from here,” he scratched some dirt free from his beard before continuing, pointing a weathered finger in various directions as he explained. “First, some dead Laudendales two nights back. Then a poor farmer’s family there on one side of town, same night. Wuddn’t but last night that the banker, Crock, and his wife on the other side turn up dead in the most heinous. Lotta dead folk. Lotta strangers.”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZ7rWDb4cE
Zeph caught a stare from the man as he pulled the ragged shirt over his head. “I don’t want trouble.”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWP8vZWasiQ
“Trouble ain't something you bring along with you. I got a feeling trouble is sumin’ you gon find,” he took a visual inventory of the oversized clothes cascading over Zeph’s body. “Stranger.”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEgFlFH2D7T
“I’m trying to find a lost boy. He’s the one in trouble. Is there anyone else new to town? It would have been last night, I think.”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgnmSS3Wi5G
“Well, it wuddn’t no ‘last night’ but they say a stranger came from the forest. A boy, but he’s wanted by the sheriff.”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0OhlcjfEXE
“It has to be a mistake! Dylan is a good boy!”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3oBKiRj7Dw
“Well, if’n you know the boy, you oughta get to town and state a case for ‘em. Though, he might get hanged ‘fore then.”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡagMgWr7UXl
Zeph’s arms dropped.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfNa4lJLEb2
Without a word he sprinted out the door back into the savanna. The man looked down introspectively until the sound of footsteps came back to his door as quickly as they left. Zeph came bursting back through the door.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw67Duo3DBy
“Which way is Baker again?”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvqUdxTmx4u
Mushroom man simply pointed and Zeph left once again.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ90YI0X5WhP
“See you tomorrow,” he shouted after him and the mushroom pot jiggled in agreement.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxXNgZnMErM
Zeph heard it but dismissed it for the crazed rambling of a dessert loner. If he found Dylan, he has no intention of staying here. Wherever here was. He doubted he would ever see that little shack ever again.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy4qoAN7hBR
Instead, he sprinted toward Baker, a middle of nowhere two to save Dylan from whatever horrible misunderstanding led to him being a wanted boy.
Inside the tiny shack was just as simple as its owner. A wooden chair hugged a small table across the room and a sheet hammock hung slack behind it. To his left at the entrance stood a wood burning stove with an iron skillet resting atop it. A light layer of desert dust coated the room, apparently free-flowing from the window whenever a light wind would visit the home.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwLPY9E5lhu
In the center of the room was an upside down clay flower pot, spot lit by the rays pouring in from the gap left in the shutters on the window.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJhFkYyAmI
It was small, with enamel glaze or flowers on the outside that looked to be painted by a child. It rested on the dirt floor with a long crack down the side and paint that chipped at the edges. Still, Zeph decided to carefully walk around it and sit at the table.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGqS3XP1A46
Only moments passed before the man pushed open the shack door and took a few steps into the room. He spared a look at Zeph, sitting bare-cheeked in his only chair, before wordlessly shaking his head and setting down his things.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJiJMNjxxtx
Zeph impatiently bounced his leg, watching the man set his basket on the ground next to the table and move around a pot and some utensils as if he was preparing to cook. He was rough looking; a thick raggy shirt draped from his shoulders and thicker pants clung drying mud to the fabric around his knees. He bore an unkempt, mostly grey beard and matching long grey hair that hid his aging face, leaving only his dark brown eyes and sun-spotted nose exposed to the elements.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqN3AkVmVsC
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3TkkTIUC5l
Zeph interrupted the clamor of dinner preparation. “Uuuh, do you have any clothes by any chance?”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPeRVMokw1R
The man didn't face him to reply, apparently addressing the kitchenware.“Nothing for nothing.”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsCMJwSE45r
It took a longer moment than Zeph would like to admit before he understood the man’s meaning before responding,“I have nothing to give.”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu596jjw6kp
“And you get that in return,” but just as the man finished his sentence, movement caught Zeph’s eye from the center of the room.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡziWDYnwLSd
The pot wiggled.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2XCkGu4Ikm
The man spun around, quickly slicked back some droopy curls from his forehead and dropped to all fours, his head mere inches from the flower pot. With a free hand, he gently lifted it from the ground revealing a tiny, pinky-capped mushroom.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcc0Kk0bGe
The man drew his face so close to the mushroom that he nearly touched it with his nose, eyes crossed as he watched it. He listened to it. He paused for a moment before he spoke.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaljQXDFBzC
“Well sure but he isn't a ‘somebody’, neither.” The man addressed the fungus, straining his eyes to maintain focus on it. Zeph watched the man speak to the mushroom in the middle of the room and began to wonder if entering this shack was a mistake.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVlkY8PVi7w
“Well, I guess I don't.” He spoke again. There was a long pause as the man intently listened to the toadstool.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl1T6D0gdop
Zeph slapped both knees. “Welp, I guess I should be going.”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw9sRdvulIr
He started to roll forward in his chair when the man continued raising an insistent hand for Zeph to stay put.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtPq1VzPOfM
“I guess that's true.” Seemingly satisfied, the mushroom man stood up, leaving the clay pot next to the mushroom. He turned around to fetch a small cup full of well water from a bucket in the corner.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ396gW5KIyN
“Go ahead and grab my spare garment from the chest behind you.” He sprinkled water and bone dust on the soil around the mushroom and replaced the clay pot.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwL19dq7r08
It took a moment for Zeph to realize the man was talking to him now. He looked behind the chair and found a small wooden chest on the floor. He retrieved the only set of clothes inside.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWL2O5aICY2
While Zeph was busy getting dressed, the mushroom man skirted around him to his favorite and only chair. He spared a moment of still reprieve before bringing himself to use a small cloth to wipe the dubious shapes Zeph left behind in the dust with his naked rear.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7u1ojlYZfY
“Baker,” the old man began. He pinched out the rest as he sat, enduring the creak of his old bones, “hadn’t been so busy before late.”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwVohoOPXoA
“Who’s Baker?”84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK0uloIdOHI
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPObALBVZeA
“Aint a ‘who.’ Baker’s a town about 3 miles north from here,” he scratched some dirt free from his beard before continuing, pointing a weathered finger in various directions as he explained. “First, some dead Laudendales two nights back. Then a poor farmer’s family there on one side of town, same night. Wuddn’t but last night that the banker, Crock, and his wife on the other side turn up dead in the most heinous. Lotta dead folk. Lotta strangers.”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQsFnmzetqN
Zeph caught a stare from the man as he pulled the ragged shirt over his head. “I don’t want trouble.”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyMapHDrnOg
“Trouble ain't something you bring along with you. I got a feeling trouble is sumin’ you gon find,” he took a visual inventory of the oversized clothes cascading over Zeph’s body. “Stranger.”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Y8wqGxE4Q
“I’m trying to find a lost boy. He’s the one in trouble. Is there anyone else new to town? It would have been last night, I think.”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJVV9pvZgc7
“Well, it wuddn’t no ‘last night’ but they say a stranger came from the forest. A boy, but he’s wanted by the sheriff.”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡghvYZL6AKa
“It has to be a mistake! Dylan is a good boy!”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdlAi1tEkvt
“Well, if’n you know the boy, you oughta get to town and state a case for ‘em. Though, he might get hanged ‘fore then.”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw1GFoC5mRq
Zeph’s arms dropped.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPR8TMb9svS
Without a word he sprinted out the door back into the savanna. The man looked down introspectively until the sound of footsteps came back to his door as quickly as they left. Zeph came bursting back through the door.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg0tUoJB00z
“Which way is Baker again?”
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoxSxWWRDdL
Mushroom man simply pointed and Zeph left once again.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7D1n2UWRym
“See you tomorrow,” he shouted after him and the mushroom pot jiggled in agreement.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ1Tz3uo5bI
Zeph heard it but dismissed it for the crazed rambling of a dessert loner. If he found Dylan, he has no intention of staying here. Wherever here was. He doubted he would ever see that little shack ever again.
84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ETtQwCFb8
Instead, he sprinted toward Baker, a middle of nowhere two to save Dylan from whatever horrible misunderstanding led to him being a wanted boy.84Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGRxsTkdhGp
and then Add to home screen.