Scrudge & Barley, Inc. by John Inman

Author:John Inman [Inman, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 9781634765145
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2015-12-06T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

“LOOK HOW young you are,” Bill tittered, her anger at him forgotten in a heartbeat. Although the sarcasm was still there. “You look almost innocent.”

She and Ebbie stood inside the windowpane they had sailed through a moment before, Bill in her butch overalls and Ebbie still in his red silk pajamas. The young man before them, hunched over paperwork on his desk, had not noticed their entry. Nor did he notice them now when Bill spoke.

Ebbie remembered Bill’s words from earlier and realized they were not invisible exactly. The vision they were seeing was simply more shadow than reality. They were staring into another time. And to Ebbie’s way of thinking—another life. For it truly seemed so long ago.

With his bare feet now firmly planted on a solid substance (office carpeting, to be exact), Ebbie eased his hand from Bill’s grasp and worked the kinks out of his fingers. Holding on for dear life to a flying lesbian was a wearying venture.

“You may be young, but you don’t look happy,” Bill commented, eyeing the hunched figure, who was painstakingly applying Wite-Out to a document.

Ebbie sighed, remembering. “It was a difficult job. Long hours. Not a kind word to be had from the boss, no matter how hard I worked.”

“Ah.” Bill chuckled. “Perhaps you just hadn’t yet figured how to please him.”

Ebbie stared at his young self, sitting there before him in a sweater-vest he remembered fondly, with his shirtsleeves rolled up out of the way. His hair was darker then. The gray had not yet reached his temples. His face was less lined.

“Perhaps I hadn’t,” Ebbie agreed. “But I think this is the day that changed all that.”

“Yes, indeed it is,” Bill smirked, rubbing her hands together in mock glee. “Let’s watch the young whippersnapper in action, shall we?”

“Don’t be condescending!” Ebbie snapped. “I was fighting for my life! I was tired of being poor. I was tired of slogging through my days hoping for something better. I was tired of being a fool.”

“Were you?” she asked. “And is this the day you stopped being a fool?”

“It’s the day I learned to fight for what I wanted.”

Bill grunted an affirmation. “Using every weapon in your arsenal.”

And at that Ebbie offered up a tiny smile. “Yes. Every weapon I possessed.”

“Such as youth?” Bill asked. “Was that one of your weapons?”

Ebbie’s smile had not gone away. “It was the only one I needed, Bill.”

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