Für Sarah

What's in a Name?

"Watch where ye be standing, woman!" Growled a rough man, broad shouldered and who smelled as though he hadn't bathed since Christ was born.

"I- I am very sorry, sir." The petite blond woman apologized, her voice soft and her eyes terrified.

"Are ye now?" He stepped towards the woman and grabbed her wrist. "'Cause I am afraid that you aren't."

The woman called out for help, but people fled from the ginger haired giant who tormented a mere girl.

"Sir, she meant you no harm. I beseech you to unhand her." Alfred tilted his head up and stepped towards the pair.

The man turned his gaze to who had spoken. "W'at a boy like ye doing using words like beseech for? And who ye think ye are?"

Alfred straightened his deep red coat. "The word I think you mean is beseech." He said kindly, after the man had butchered the word. "Bee-see-ch. And I just want to make sure this woman is alright. She meant you no harm sir."

The large man narrowed his brown eyes at the young lad, baring his yellowing teeth. Alfred swallowed but stood his ground. Suddenly, the man grinned. But it was sly. "Alright..... if you insist." He released the woman's wrist and she scurried away like a mouse. Once she was gone, he stepped slowly towards Alfred. The man reached out and struck the young lad down with a quick blow to the face.

Alfred fell to the gravel stone ground of the small market place, and gasps and cries of concerned families buying the weekly produce filled his ears. His cheek bone stung and he tasted a horrid, metallic taste in his mouth.

The man lowered down and sat on his haunches, grabbing Alfred's chin in his tight grip and growling in his face. His breath was petrifying and his hand was strong. "Don't ever think of standing in my way again, boy, or ye'll pay." He shoved Alfred's head down into the gravel and laughed as he stood up and sauntered off.

Weakly and dazed, Alfred sat up, his hat lying several feet from him and his knee coat that had been a gift from the Professor was torn. He groaned. No one stopped to help him. Not that he would. He knew not one of them. This was just another town he and Professor Albronsius had stopped in on their way to the cold forests of Transylvania.

He reached out his hand and grabbed a hold of his beloved hat, returning it to it's usual spot atop his golden curls and stood up shakily. His right cheek bone and jaw stung, but there was nothing he could do for the time being. Alfred did his best to dust himself off as he continued through the lovely old market place of the quaint town.

His stomach rumbled and he felt so tired. Sleeping in a stage coach was not ideal but it was what he and the Professor were forced to do when they traveled for his... research. Alfred swallowed the large amount of blood in his mouth and shivered. He hated that taste.

"I'm afraid if you can't pay, child, you can't buy it." He heard an older woman behind a small booth snap at a young boy. It caught his attention and he neared it.

The boy was sobbing. "B-but it's my s-sisters birthday and I wanted to b-buy her a small cake."

"No money no cake. Now begone!" Alfred cringed at her tone as the boy's lip quivered and he dashed away behind the corner of a small building.

"Good evening," Alfred gave the gray haired woman a warm smile. "I'd like to purchase one of your small cakes."

He fiddled around in his pocket for enough change to pay for the small tramway and handed it to her, taking the delicious, mouth watering pastry into his hand. Oh he wanted to sink his teeth into the flesh of the pristine white icing.... "Here. This is what you wanted, is it not?" Alfred kneeled down and handed it to the sobbing child.