Sky Pirates

Chapter 20

Cole arrived in the fresh morning air. He'd underestimated the amount of oil required to lube the many gears, cogs, and rods of the giant clock. With his oil can in hand, he headed toward the workshop.

"Hello!"

He looked up to see where the greeting had come from. A young man on a midnight black horse was stopped just short of the workshop doorway.

"Good morning," said Cole as he strode over to the stranger. "I'm Cole Parker," he said.

"Horatio Wickliffe. I'm the vicar's son." He jumped down from his horse. He was taller than Cole by several inches with a mane of black hair to rival that of his horse.

The two young men shook hands and Cole's heart began to pound. His hands grew damp. His knees went a little soft. All of this shocked him as he continued to enjoy the pressure of Horatio's hand, the nearness of this slight younger man with his broad smile and pale complexion.

"Oh, sorry," said Cole as Horatio Wickliffe pulled his hand away to discover it was covered with oil. "I'm working on the clock today."

"Not a problem," said the young man who continued to hold his soiled hand out.

"Here, come with me," said Cole who walked into the workshop.

Horatio roped his horse to a peg near the workshop window and then entered the dark, dusty space. When he got inside, Cole handed him a dirty rag, which wasn't much of an aid cleaning the grime off his hand. In fact, because it held a film of sawdust, it made the matter a bit worse. While Horatio did the best he could cleaning up, Cole refilled the oil can, getting more oil on the workbench than into the receptacle.

"So, what's wrong with your clock?" Horatio asked, more as a way of reminding Cole he was there than actually caring about the task.

"I'm not really sure. It hasn't ever worked. Not during my lifetime anyway. But, I decided it was time to figure it out."

The two men were silent as Cole moved back toward the out of doors.

"So you've arrived?" asked Cole.

Horatio looked confused by the statement.

"When did you arrive in Wickwillow?" Cole clarified.

"Yesterday evening. My father is here. I believe he's giving your sister, Mildred is her name? I believe he's giving her a piano lesson."

"Hmm." Cole wished the young man would go away. He was tall and thin and well dressed. Probably well-educated and off to university soon. They could have nothing in common, so there was little point in getting to know him.

Horatio followed Cole out of the workshop. He took a very deep breath that was mimicked by his horse.

"Well, I want to get back to my chore," said Cole. He'd agreed to meet his sister up in the clock tower after lunch, and if he hadn't oiled everything as she'd said to, she would once again refuse to help him with the next step. That's what had happened for the past several days.

"Would you like some company?"

"I don't mean to be rude, but no, I really want to finish this on my own. The space up there is rather tight as it is."

"I understand." The young men looked at each other. "It was nice meeting you," offered Horatio who started to put his hand out to shake, but then retracted it. "We're supposed to be having dinner together this evening, I believe. That will give us a chance to get better acquainted."

Cole huffed and nodded. For a moment, he caught Horatio Wickliffe's eyes. At first Cole thought the man's eyes were blue, but then, both of them turned their head slightly, and it was obvious that Horatio had translucent gray eyes, the likes of which Cole had never seen before. There was color there, but as the man turned his head, as sunlight played on his face, the color changed again and again to all shades of light grey and light blue. Cole was astonished.

"My eyes?" Horatio asked. "You've noticed my eyes." Now he smiled a beatific smile, a cherubic smile. A smile that would make the angels sing.

That would certainly describe the sound Cole was now hearing in his own head. A choir of angels. He knew something important had happened; he knew in that moment that his life had been changed. While he might not yet know what the change was or what it meant, he knew it had happened. Today was an important day.

"Yes." That was allCole managed to say before he turned away from Horatio Wickliffe and, withoutlooking back, contemplated the emotion he'd just felt while he made his wayback to the entrance to the clock tower. Just as he was about to ascend thedark staircase, he turned back. Horatio was now back up on that tall, black horse,both rider and animal shook their manes at the same moment, and Cole, out ofbreath for some reason, waved an oily hand in farewell toward the vicar's son.

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