 DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters. "The Magnificent Seven" belong to MGM and Trilogy Entertainment. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’d be a happy woman if Vin belonged to me.....but no such luck. I have not made any profit out of writing this, so please don’t sue me. It would not be worth your while.
Buck Cassidy and the Sundance Kid  Please Note: This story is based on the idea of a very talented Australian Author (Andy Griffiths). The ideas are his. When I read it, I could picture Little Bukc and so adapted the ideas.
Background: Similar team to Em7 but with only 5 members. Vin and Buck are 9 year olds who have been fostered by Chris and Ezra. There isn’t any need for more background. This is a one off story. I hope you enjoy it for what it is. (G) "They're here, Sir," the young secretary announced, via interoffice intercom. Principal Lower rose to his feet. "Please show them in, Penny." Lower moved around his desk and waited. He had called many parents in for interviews, but in thirty-seven years in Education he had never come across anything quite like this. The heavy oak doors opened and the two fathers walked in, a third man leading them. Lower stepped forward and took Chris Larabee's hand. He had met Special Agent Larabee on many occasions. Larabee's financial backing had kept the school afloat many times in the past and it had been on his recommendation that the two children in question had been enrolled. Chris' face was serious, his eyes displaying his concern. "Principal Lower." "Mr. Larabee." Lower then turned to one of the other men. Josiah Sanchez nodded. He had spoken at length to the principal outlining the trauma the Vin Tanner and Buck Wilmington had gone through before being fostered by Larabee and Standish. "Dr. Sanchez." The Principal then turned to Ezra Standish. He had exchanged many telephone interviews with this man. Standish's ward had only been a student at Princestone's Boy's College for three weeks. During that time young Buck Wilmington had broken every rule in the book... and some that weren't. "Mr. Standish." Gentlemen, please take seats." Chris sat down immediately and waited. Ezra did the same but began to fidget. Josiah remained standing. "You said that this was regarding suspending the boys?" Chris inquired. It was clear that he was stunned. This, the principal could understand. "What could they have done that required a face to face meeting at such short notice?" Ezra asked, finally settling. "Well, among other things, they threw books in the library, toppled all of the shelves, hung toilet paper from the lights and lifted their teacher's skirt." Both Chris and Ezra's eyes grew wide. "There's no way..." Chris started. "I quite agree with you, Mr. Larabee," the Principal interrupted. "After exhaustive talks with Vin's teachers and friends, all agree that this is most out of character." At this point, he flicked his eyes to Ezra Standish. Ezra grinned sheepishly. Unfortunately, even he had to admit that it sounded exactly like Buck. "On the other hand, from what I have learned of young Master Wilmington in the past three weeks, I am inclined to believe he may well be able to shed some light on all of this." "Have you spoken to the boys?" Chris inquired. "At length. They refuse to say anything. Well, that isn't exactly true. Master Wilmington insists he knows nothing and young Vin won't even look at me." "I see." Chris Larabee's brow furrowed. He had a good idea what was going on. Vin was loyal to a fault. "Principal Lower, may I have a few moments with Vin." Lower smiled. "That, Mr. Larabee, is why I invited you here. I would like to get to the bottom of this and I need your help." He rose to his feet and led the small party out of the room and down a hall. Princeton’s Boy's College had a fine history. Three United State's Presidents were past pupils. Littering the walls of the stately building were photos of some of the most prominent men in the world, Chris Larabee included. The group paused outside an ornate oak door bearing the sign "Suspension Room." The Principal opened the door for the trio and closed it behind them before turning and making his way back to his office. Chris stared across at the two ten year olds seated on chairs against the wall dwarfed by the raised ceilings and huge paintings around the room. Vin's eyes were wide with a mixture of shock, concern and true anxiety. Buck's were colored in the same way. "I demand an explanation of your actions, Buck. What happening the library, young man?!" Ezra cried. "It wasn't all that bad and..." Buck argued. "Wasn't all that bad?! You looked up a teacher's skirt!" "No, I didn't. All I did..." "All you did? All you did was cause..." Ezra continued to rant and rave. Chris stared down at the quiet boy who was watching the ranting man with stunned fear creasing his tiny features. "It wasn't his fault," Vin suddenly cried. Ezra turned. For several seconds there was silence. "What? You mean, you did those things?" Vin swallowed and turned his attention to Chris. Larabee took two long strides forward. "Go on, Vin." His deep voice echoed in the room and resounded in Vin's mind. The little boy's bottom lip trembled. "It was my fault," he whispered. Buck turned to his friend and shook his head. "No it wasn't, Vin. I was the one..." "It was my fault, Chris. I didn't mean for it to happen." He looked terrified. Larabee crouched down in front of the child, in two minds. One part of him wanted to throw his arms around the boy and tell him everything was okay. The other part of him insisted that if Vin was in fact responsible for this fiasco then he needed to face up to what he'd done. "Tell me what happened." "I... Ummm." "From the beginning, young man," Josiah encouraged, walking up to stand beside Chris. "Well, we've had this substitute teacher for the last few days and she..." "She's a toad," Buck cried. "Buck, let Vin tell us and you can have your turn in a minute," Chris ordered. "Go on, Vin." The little boy licked his lips. "Well, she picks on Buck. No, I mean it, Chris. She really picks on him. He can't move and she's yelling at him." "Any idea why, Buck?" Ezra accused. "No, I haven't really done anything much," Buck argued. "I mean, I did flick an eraser across the room that hit her on the bum on the first day and I put chalk dust on her chair... oh, and I put a frog in her pencil case. You should have seen her jump," the child giggled. "Enough!" Ezra cried shaking his head. "You do realize how serious this is?" "Yes, Sir," Buck acknowledged, quietly. He didn't want to be expelled. He liked going to school here. "Vin?" Chris encouraged. "Tell me why Principal Lower wants to suspend you." Huge blue eyes that looked directly into Chris's soul, blinked twice. Chris reached out his hand and laid it on the boy's shoulder. "Come on." Vin flicked his eyes to Josiah, who nodded encouragement. "Miss Wilson, that's the substitute teacher, has set us an assignment. We have to look up information in books and write about it. She took us to the library and..." Vin glanced across at Buck "I was sorta bored," the dark-haired child commented, as if that was an explanation. "What did you do?" Ezra growled. "Ezra," Chris chastised. "Let the boys tell us. Go on, Vin." "I didn't mean for it to happen, Chris. Really I didn't. You see..." ********* Vin glanced up from the book he was scanning. Miss Wilson was stomping around the library. She wasn't happy... not after Buck had pretended to vomit and thrown one of those plastic joke vomit things on her desk. Vin had really thought her face was going to explode. He'd never seen anyone's face go that colour. "She's incredible," Buck mumbled, watching the substitute teacher. "Shhh," Vin muttered. "She's telling kids off for talking. She's telling kids off for leaning back on their chairs. She's practically telling kids off for breathing. You name it and she tells people off for it." "Buck, shhh," Vin appealed, trying to go back to his work. His cousin was great fun, but he had a knack of getting himself into trouble. Not that Vin believed that it was entirely his fault... Buck was so honest he did everything out in the open for the world to see. "I reckon she's wasted as a teacher," Buck grumbled. "Miss Wilson should have been the governor of a high-security prison. That'd be one prison where they wouldn't have to worry about the prisoners talking, leaning back on their chairs or breathing loudly!" "Buck You've got to be quiet. I don't want to be thrown out of the library. We have to get this research done." "So, you reckon it's possible for a person to be invisible?" Vin rolled his eyes. Buck had been talking about becoming invisible since the day he had seen the movie "The Invisible Man". He was obsessed with finding a way to become invisible. "Psst! Vin. Do you think..." "Buck! Shhhh. We'll get into trouble if you keep talking." "Do you reckon if I got a can of spray-paint and painted myself blue and painted my whole room blue and everything in it blue - do you think I'd be invisible then?" "Well, maybe," Vin whispered, glancing across to check and see where Miss Wilson was. "As long as you stayed in your room. But once you left, you'd be a bit conspicuous." "Oh," Buck murmured. Vin returned to reading about the Grizzly Bear. "Psst!" "What?!" Vin asked, finally becoming impatient. "What does conspicuous mean?" "It means you stand out like a pimple on a pumpkin. Now, would you shut up and do some work - and stop interrupting me." "Yeah, sorry Vin... But honestly, do you reckon it would work?" Vin rolled his eyes and grinned. "Buck... please." Buck smiled. "So you reckon it would?" Vin ignored the question and glanced up at the clock. It was still another twenty minutes until lunch and he was starving. He flicked his eyes to Miss Wilson and noting that her back was to him, he reached into his pencil case for a candy. Well, they were supposed to be candies. They were really just little multi-coloured balls with no taste. Nobody liked them, except three-year-olds - and Vin was sure that was only because they didn't know any better. He was only eating them because they were a present from Nettie Wells. It would have been rude to throw them away. Vin slipped one out and crunched it between his teeth. Buck spotted the tube of candies. "What are those?" he asked. Suddenly an outstandingly brilliant idea struck Vin. A way to shut Buck up. Miss Wilson was up at the loans counter speaking to the librarian so that would give him a few minutes. "Buck, what would you say if I had a way of really making you invisible?" "How?" Buck asked eagerly. Vin fished into his pencil case and took out the small tube of lollies. "I was waiting for Christmas next week, but since you want to be invisible so badly, you might as well have them now." "What are they?" Buck asked, staring at the small round candies. "They're invisipills. They make you invisible." Buck stared at his best friend. Vin's face was serious. "For real?" "Absolutely." "Where'd you get them?" Buck asked suspiciously. "I made them. I got the recipe on...Vin lowered his voice. "...on the FBI site on the internet." Buck hit his head with his hand. "Oh, man! Why didn't I think of that? Of course." Buck was an intelligent boy and this was a reasonable and believable turn of events. "Keep your voice down," Vin ordered, glancing around nervously. "Have you tried them?" Buck asked. "Yep." Vin was enjoying this now. He had his friend hook, line and sinker. "And?" "They're pretty amazing. One pill will make you completely invisible for about half an hour." "Wow! How come you didn't tell me?" Buck demanded, drawing the tube close to his left eye so he could study them closely. "Like I said, I was keeping it as a surprise for Christmas." "Can I try one?" Buck's face was lit with excitement and anticipation. "Sure. Just one, though. They're pretty powerful. And you've got to promise me one thing." "Sure. Anything," Buck responded, opening the top of the tube. "Once you've had one, you'll go outside and let me work." "No problem," Buck stated, taking one of the small candies from the tube and holding it like it was radioactive. With wide eyes he put the small round 'pill' in his mouth and swallowed. "Well? Am I invisible?" "Not yet," Vin giggled. "It will take a few minutes." Buck held his hand out in front of him, fingers outstretched. "Have I faded even a little bit?" Vin screwed up his eyes, pretending to study him. "Yes, definitely. No doubt about it." "Cool!" Buck exclaimed. Vin glanced across at the loans counter. Miss Wilson had finished chatting to the librarian and was prowling the library again. "You're fading fast. I can hardly see you," the boy stated quickly. Buck frowned. "No I'm not. I can still see me as clear as anything." "Yeah, you're meant to. That's the way the pills are designed. You can see yourself, but nobody can see you. If you couldn't see yourself, you wouldn't know where you were and you'd get lost." "Ohhhh," Buck agreed. "So am I invisible yet?" "Where are you?" Vin asked, scanning the area around where Buck was sitting. "I'm right here!" "Where? I can't see you. Your chair is empty." "Can you still hear me?" Buck asked with excitement. "Yes. Now, go outside. Remember our deal?" "Sure, Vin. No problemo. I'm out of here." Buck rose to his feet and walked off. Vin sighed relief and grinned. He loved Buck but Buck and work simply didn't go together. At least now he would be able to get some research done. Vin went back to work. Miss Wilson slowly made her way across the library. As the teacher walked passed Vin, there was an enormous belch. It was so loud that it rocked the foundations of the library. For a moment, Vin thought it was Miss Wilson, but he quickly realized that it could be none other than Buck. The child glanced to his right and sure enough, Buck was standing in an aisle killing himself laughing. Miss Wilson stopped and glared down at Vin. "Excuse me. Was that you?" "No, Ma'am," Vin answered quickly. "Then, who was it, pray tell? A ghost?" Buck's eyes flashed with triumph. No one could see him. He shot off down the aisle. A few of Vin's classmates began chuckling. "It... it wasn't me, Miss Wilson." The woman's eyes narrowed as they zeroed in on something on the child's desk. "And what are those?" Vin glanced sideways and spotted the candies that Buck had so 'thoughtfully' left sitting in plain view. "Umm, candies, Miss Wilson." "I presume you know the rule about eating in the library?" Vin swallowed. His world was slowly crashing around him. "Yes, Miss Wilson. I'll get rid of them." "No you won't. I will," she snapped, snatching them up. She shook her head and then walked up the aisle without another word. Vin started breathing again. He searched for Buck praying his friend had gone outside. Without warning, a book landed on the carpet next to Vin's desk. Vin glanced up in no doubt of who had thrown it. Another book sailed over the top of the shelves and landed on Vin's desk. Another hit the top edge and bounced off onto the student in front. "Ouch!" the boy yelled turning around. "Quit it, Tanner." Vin shrugged. "It wasn't me." Unfortunately the books kept coming... and so did Miss Wilson. "Stand up!" she cried. Vin leapt to his feet, his young eyes wide with terror. "Would you mind telling me what's going on here?" "Somebody is throwing books," the boy in front of Vin stated. Vin swallowed. He couldn't finger Buck. That wouldn't be right. They were cousins. Wilson turned her eyes to Vin. "Who?" she demanded. "I... I don't know," the child lied. His face went scarlet. Miss Wilson strode off to check the aisles. Vin held his breath thinking, run, Buck. Run! Moments later, Miss Wilson returned. "I can't see anyone. Perhaps you should stay back at lunchtime and tell me just how this happened." Vin swallowed and nodded. He had no idea of what he was going to say. Just as he was about to sit down the little boy spotted his best friend skipping across the library tossing toilet paper around. All eyes were drawn to him but no one said anything. Everyone was too stunned. Jaws were literally hanging open as Buck Wilmington skipped and twirled, draping toilet paper everywhere. Buck giggled noting the looks of shock. His audience was watching toilet paper leaping about the room of its own accord. They couldn't see him he believed with certainty. Again, he darted off into the aisles. Miss Wilson turned to Vin, stunned. The boy swallowed. Abruptly, Buck reappeared and crept up behind the teacher. "NO!" Vin yelled. Before Vin could stop him, Buck began dancing in circles around the teacher, pulling faces. Unfortunately, his wrist watch snagged on Miss Wilson's skirt and as Buck lifted his arm, the corner of Miss Wilson's dress rose revealing her Wonder Woman underwear. The class burst out laughing. Vin froze, his mouth open. What had he done? He hadn't realized that Buck would believe him so completely. As Miss Wilson turned, Buck darted off again. To his horror, Vin spotted the A-G fiction shelf rocking back and forward. "Look! The book shelves are moving!" a boy called. Buck laughed. Yep, moving all on their own, he chuckled to himself, the other child's statement confirming in Buck's mind that he was indeed invisible. "The library's haunted," he called. “Ooooohhh” he cried in a ghostly voice. Vin's eyes grew wide. Buck had gone crazy. The excitement of thinking he was invisible had gone to his head and now he seemed to think he was invincible. Vin knew he had to stop his friend before he went too far. "Excuse me, Miss Wilson," Vin cried, darting around her and disappearing down between some bookshelves. "Where are you going? Master Tanner?!" Vin rounded the corner and grabbed Buck's arm, but he was running so fast he didn't pull up in time and crashed into Buck... who crashed into the bookshelf. The shelf tilted further to the right. All of the books fell onto the carpet and then the piece of furniture itself toppled, smacking into the next shelf. The force of the bookshelf striking the next one pushed it over and the combined weight of these two pushed the third shelf over... and the fourth... and the fifth... just like a row of dominoes. Except heavier... and louder. Once the noise echoed out, there was absolute silence. Nobody could believe what they'd just witnessed. Slowly, Vin turned around. Miss Wilson, for the first time in her life, was speechless. She was opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish. Vin stood petrified. Everyone was staring at him. Slowly, Miss Wilson turned to Buck who was standing wide-eyed. "Ooops," he muttered. He hadn't meant for the shelf to fall. "Oh, well. They can't pin it on me." Miss Wilson's face had gone that peculiar colour again. "What do you think you are doing, Master Wilmington?" she screamed at Buck. "Who?" Buck asked, the smile slipping from his face. "But you can't see me. I'm invisible.... Vin swallowed. "So you see, Chris. It was my fault. I told him he was invisible." Tears of distress brimmed in the little boy's blue eyes. Chris blinked. "You told Buck that he was invisible?" Chris repeated, keeping his voice level. Vin nodded, the tears falling onto his cheeks. Ezra stared down at Buck with the same stunned expression. "And you believed him?" Buck nodded. "Well, he said Uncle Josiah said that you can get just about anything on the internet so..." Buck swallowed. "I was just having some fun." Chris rose to his feet. Vin stared up at him unable to read his guardian's expression. "I'm sorry, Chris." Chris Larabee and Ezra Standish exchanged a glance and then erupted into loud, booming laughter. It resonated in the room, both men unable to control it. Vin and Buck looked at each other with wide eyes. They hadn't expected this. "Invisipills," Chris cackled. Josiah stepped between the two rollicking adults and shook his head with disgust. Clearly, it had fallen to him, yet again, to point out how serious this actually was. "You two young man realize that this is not a laughing matter," he stated firmly to Buck and Vin. The two boys nodded, but were still staring at their laughing guardians. Josiah spun around and glared at the two men, stealing the very laughter from their lips. Both Ezra and Chris attempted to compose themselves. "Gentlemen, clearly some form of punishment will need to be enforced." "Of course," Chris muttered, wiping tears from his eyes. "May I suggest that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid go to the Principal and the teacher concerned and apologise." "A commendable solution, Josiah," Ezra agreed. "All right you two. Come on." Buck and Vin's shoulders slumped as they were marched back to Principal Lower's office. Josiah, Chris and Ezra retreated into the waiting room when Miss Wilson arrived. Ezra moved the door and opened it a crack, Chris joining him. Together they watched as their boys explained and apologised. Ezra Standish smiled. Love shone from his face. Buck was a high-spirited kid who seemed to find trouble at every turn. However, Ezra loved him all the more for it. "That's my boy, in there, Chris." Chris clapped Ezra's shoulder, his eyes on Vin, his own pride and love clearly displayed on his face. "And that's mine." Josiah studied the two men and he sighed. He remembered both before the boys had come into their lives. Vin and Buck had given these two hard, aloof men a reason to laugh. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," Ezra chuckled. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," Chris agreed. "Long may they ride," Josiah whispered.
© Dec 2005 Aussie Lass : This relates only to the creative property in this story. The distinctive way the story unfolds, the specific dialogue and unique situations are mine. I acknowledge that some of the characters and settings belong to the owners of "The Magnificent Seven" and I thank them sincerely for turning a blind eye so I can borrow them. (g) No infrigement of copyright was intended and no profit has been made from this story... so, please don't sue me. It wouldn't be worth your while. |
