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“It never gets any easier…” Donald groaned to Duck and Oliver in the shed, he winced and rubbed his sore arm, “you’d think by now I would have no problem with needles.”
“Better than getting Tetanus.” Oliver remarked, “trust me when I say that Tetanus is no fun at all.”
“Did your brother get his shot yet?” Duck asked Donald as he wiped off his greasy hands.
“Aye, he did, but then he passed out on the floor at the sight of the needle.” Donald recalled.
“Worst five seconds of my life…” Douglas said, rubbing his sore arm, “did you check to see if we have any trains tonight?”
Duck tossed the grease covered rag in the trash, “I did, I didn’t see any trains for tonight. I think we’re all set to go down to the pub.”
“perfect! “ Donald grinned, “we’ll just finish greasing the engines up for tomorrow, and we’ll head down, you asked Ryan and Daisy if they wanted to go with us, right?”
Duck nodded, “I did, they both wanted to go with us, Ryan’s never been to Selkie’s Cove before, I told him that they have a special for chowder and pool night on Friday nights, he wants to learn the game.”
Douglas stuffed a lube of grease in the grease gun, “are they going to meet us here, or at the restaurant?”
Duck bit his lip, “I think they’re going to meet us here. Daisy has one last passenger train, she’s going to drop the passengers off and then come here.” he turned back to Oliver, “did Toad say he was coming with us?”
“No, he wanted to stay home and watch Doctor Who and work more on his cross stitching.” Oliver explained, “Hey Duck? could you maybe help me hold the grease gun?”
“Of course.” Duck slipped his crutches back on, and held the hose of the grease gun while Oliver squeezed the handle.
“Still having troubles with your arm?” Duck commented, he looked down at Oliver’s prosthetic arm where his left arm used to be.
Oliver shrugged, “yeah, you’d think after having it for years, I’d be able to use it.” He sighed and glared at the pinchers at the end, “not that I’m ungrateful for it, it must’ve cost the fat controller a lot, but I’m pretty sure that I’m better off without it.”
“Hello guys!” Ryan entered the shed with a huge grin on his face, “I hope I’m on time.”
“Ryan! Hello!” Donald and Dougals greeted him. The three gave each other a half hug.
“I didn’t know if I needed to wear anything so I just threw on this bowtie.” Ryan adjusted the small, pale purple bowtie.
“It looks great.” Duck complemented, “erm, where’s Daisy?”
Ryan rolled his eyes, “she’s in the lady’s room touching up her make up.”
No sooner had Ryan said this, Daisy came stumbling over in a pair of burgundy kitten heels, and her work clothes slung over her arms, she was wearing a slender green pencil skirt with a matching tailored, pan collar suit jacket and neck scarf.
She huffed as she quickly dabbed some red lipstick onto her cheeks, “I thought that passenger run would never end! First there was that child that wouldn’t stop crying, it was such a snotty mess that I thought I would have to spend hours cleaning the upholstery. I just had those seats reupholstered. The fitter did a splendid job on them, I would hate it if it were to get soiled. Then I happened to run into an avon lady who gave me these nice makeup samples to try, I couldn’t turn them down you know! I do like their lipsticks, I might just order some.” Daisy checked herself in her small pocket mirror, she gave herself a satisfied nod, and tucked it back in her purse.
Duck nodded politely, “oh that sounds rather nice.” he had no idea what Daisy was talking about, “are we ready then?”
Ryan nodded, “yep, I think so.”
“Alright then, let’s go. It’s just a short walk across the yard.”
“Do you need me to carry you?” Oliver asked Duck.
Duck leaned on his elbow crutches and shook his head, “no thank you, I’ll be alright. It’s just a short walk across the yard and up the street. I can manage. But thank you for offering though.”
The group made their way over to the pub. Most of the shops in Arlesburgh were busy closing up for the night, it was winter in the harbor, even though the town was quiet, it was actually nice to walk the streets and take in the scenery without bumping into packs of tourists trying to crowd into the small, Kitsch gift shops.
The group entered the small pub that was attached to a small hotel, they waited a bit for Duck to catch up before entering. The pub was a small one, with a few tables and a bar. Along the wall were mounted fish, and a mural of a selkie wrapped in a seal pelt sitting on a rocky shore with other seals.
“Huh, that’s new.” Douglas lifted an eyebrow at the huge “DO NOT SERVE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE” sign hanging above the server’s station. The sign had colored pictures of a very drunk Salty stabbing the space in between his fingers with a knife on the table, a very angry and drunk Duncan about to deck an unsuspecting patron over the head with a chair, Gordon hauling a very sick James with a bucket around his neck, like a bag of potatoes out of the pub, with a bright red circle around James, and a very very drunk Diesel casually streaking through the streets with beer in hand.
“Good evening, how many tonight?” The server came over to the group.
“Six please.” Donald counted up the members of the group.
“Right this way please.” The server led the group to a table and handed them their menus, “what can I get you to drink?”
Duck quickly scanned down the drink menu, “I think I might do an old fashioned.”
“I think I’ll have the Scotch.” Oliver bit his lip, “and water.”
“We’ll both do an ale each as usual.” Donald folded his menu up, “does that sound alright with you Dougie?”
“Hm… I think this time I’ll try a cider.” Douglas thought for a moment.
“Ooh, feeling a bit adventurous tonight, aren’t you?” Donald nudged Douglas teasingly. The two chuckled.
The server turned to Daisy and Ryan, “what would you like to drink?”
“I’ll have a Bloody Mary, in a clean glass.” Daisy said. The server gave her a subtle dirty look.
“Alright,” the server wrote down Daisy’s order, “what would you like to drink?”
Ryan was caught off guard by this, “um…” he scanned the menu, he didn’t really drink, “I think… Maybe a Bloody Mary too?” He handed the drink menu back to the server.
“Oh! Can we get some chips for our appetizer?” Donald pointed to the appetizer on the menu.
The server nodded, “alright, I’ll get your drinks and your chips, and I’ll be right back to take your order.” The waitress left the table.
“I thought you said that you were going to order fish and chips?” Douglas looked at Donald, “why did you also order chips?”
“Because I like chips. Duh.”
Douglas nodded, “okay, but I think that’s way too many chips.”
“I’ll share them with you.”
“Oh alright! You got me there!” Douglas playfully shoved his brother in the shoulder.
Donald winced and grabbed his shoulder, “Ow! Sss! That’s where they gave me that shot!”
“Oh! Sorry!”
Donald rubbed his arm, “did any of you need to get a tetanus shot?”
“I already had mine years ago.” Duck recalled, “I wonder though, why can’t they just give us the vaccine on a sugar cube. That would save us a lot of pain.”
“I think that’s only for the Polio vaccine.” Oliver scratched his chin, “but I guess it would be nice if all the vaccines were given out on sugar cubes. Definitely would make it more bearable, and tasty.”
“It’s rather crazy to think about,” Duck commented, “when I was little, my siblings and I used to go down to the yard and watch our dad shunt. They would sometimes have scrapped engines lying beside the tracks, and we would climb in them and pretend to drive them! These engines were basically a tetanus breeding ground! I’m surprised that none of us had gotten Tetanus-, well, besides my cousin, but he was running around a back alley barefoot anyways, everyone knew he was going to step on a nail eventually.”
“Oooohh!” The table recoiled in horror at the thought of a rusty nail going through the foot.
“Why?!” Ryan exclaimed, “why did your parents let you and your siblings play in a city’s back alley barefoot?!”
“We lived in a small flat in London back then, mum wanted to have some peace and quiet while she worked so she turned us loose and told us, “okay go have fun, just don’t climb in any refrigerators, talk to strangers or get in their cars, and stay off the tracks. And we did that.” Duck crossed his arms.
“For the most part.” Oliver added.
The server came back out with everyone’s drinks, “there you go, here’s your drinks and fries, would you like anything else?”
“Yes actually.” Daisy said while inspecting her glass, “Can they remake my drink? But in a clean glass?” She handed her drink back to the waitress, the waitress took it back with a scowl on her face.
“It looked pretty clean to me.” Ryan commented.
“You can never be too sure.” Daisy replied.
Donald munched on a few chips, “I almost forgot, we got a letter from our mum this week.”
“That’s nice, what did she have to say?” Oliver asked.
“She wants us over for Christmas dinner, our sister is also planning on going.” Donald explained.
“Do you plan on going?” Duck asked, “you two haven’t visited your mum in a long time.”
Donald dipped a few chips in ketchup, “Maybe, I would like to, but Christmas is usually a busy time for us, but we haven’t seen our mum or dad since grandfather’s funeral.”
Douglas helped himself to a few chips, “didn’t we visit them when our sister got married?”
“That’s right, we did! I almost forgot about that!”
The server came back with Daisy’s drink, “here you go, hopefully this one is better.”
“Thank you.” Daisy took her drink, right when the waitress began to walk away, Daisy called her back, “oh! Excuse me? This one is a bit strong.” She handed her drink back to the waitress. The waitress silently took it back. Oliver shot Daisy a judgmental look.
“Oh don’t give me that look Oliver, my stomach doesn’t particularly agree to strong alcoholic drinks.”
Donald cleared his throat, “as I was saying, I hope that we could get around to visiting our mum for the holidays.”
“You’re rather lucky Ryan.” Douglas commented while taking a sip from his drink, “you have your cousins living right here on the island.”
Ryan took a quick sip from his drink, “oh, I never thought about it that way. I guess I’m pretty lucky if you look at it that way. Though I wish we were a bit closer like you and Donald.”
Duck raised an eyebrow, “pardon?”
Ryan held his glass in his hand, “I mean to say that Gordon, Spencer, flying Scotsman and I never really do anything together. We’re all close in distance but I kind of wish we hung out.”
The now irate server came back with Daisy’s new drink, she didn’t say anything when she gave Daisy back her drink.
“Thank you.” Daisy took three sips from her drink, then stopped to check the time, “oh my, looks like I have to leave.” The entire table stared at her as she gathered up her purse.
“Pardon me but I thought you had nothing going on tonight.” Duck asked skeptically.
“I just remembered that I have another appointment tonight. Thank you for inviting me, it’s been a wonderful evening. See you tomorrow Ryan.” She hurried out of the pub, “oh! I’m a bit short on cash right now, just put my drink on their tab. They wouldn’t mind.” She called back to the server, “ta ta!”
The group watched with scowls on their faces as Daisy left the pub.
“Well, that wasn’t very Great Western ™ of her.” Duck remarked.
“I’ll say.” Oliver glared at the door.
“Anyways, what were you saying Ryan?” Duck took a sip of his drink.
Ryan wiped his mouth, “well, I was saying that it’s weird that I never took advantage of having my family here.”
“Have you tried maybe asking Gordon or Spencer, “hey, I was wondering if we could do something together?” Duck suggested.
Ryan folded his arms, “that’s the problem, all of my cousins have different interests than me! They’re more into stylish and sophisticated things, like horseback riding, house tours, croquet, expensive day trips, and looking at expensive stuff. I don’t feel like I fit into that group. Look, my family has a lot of rich and famous people in it, and I’m not. Not that I’m complaining, I love living a simple life, but it makes it hard to connect with my family sometimes.”
Duck nodded, “now that you put it that way, it makes sense.”
“Isn’t Henry technically somewhat related to Gordon?” Oliver asked, “I think Gordon told us that Henry was Gordon’s cousin before he was adopted by a different family?”
Duck snapped his fingers “Oh that’s right! Yes! Ryan, do you know Henry?”
Ryan scratched his chin, “he’s the one with the five guinea pigs, right?”
“Yes, that's him alright,” Duck took a quick sip from his drink, “my apologies if you know this already, but he’s also one of your cousins, he might like hanging out with you sometime, he really enjoys nature and gardening, I think you two might have some things in common.” Duck took another long drink.
Ryan’s eyes widened in shock, he stiffened at the news, “Henry is my cousin!?”
Duck immediately choked on his drink, Oliver pounded on Duck’s back until he stopped coughing, Duck cleared his throat and patted his mouth, “beg your pardon, WHAT!?”
The entire table was shocked by this response.
“You mean to say that you DIDN’T know that Henry was your cousin?!” Donald pointed at Ryan.
Ryan’s face flushed red, “I-… no! Well, I mean I knew I had a cousin who was left behind at the hospital because his parents didn’t want to care for them, but I didn’t know it was Henry!”
“Left behind what now!?” Donald spluttered.
“Yeah! I was told that my aunt and Uncle had a son that was born prematurely and had pneumonia. They didn’t have the money or the patience to care for a sick child so they walked out of the Hospital before they could even name the baby!” Ryan explained, he crossed his arms and sat back in his seat, “they were jerks for doing that though, just upright abandoning their kid like that…”
“That explains a lot…” Oliver muttered.
“Wait, I thought Henry said that he was given up for adoption when he was seven because his parents couldn’t deal with his multiple illnesses and Fibrosis.” Douglas exclaimed, “or am I just drunk and misremembering things?”
“No you’re right,” Duck held his hands out in a chopping motion, “his parents didn’t have a diagnosis for him and he was constantly in pain every day, and pardon my choice of words, but because they didn’t want to make their family look bad, Henry’s words, not mine. They adopted him out.”
Ryan grabbed at his hair, “okay, now I’m confused! Because I never saw any trace of a kid when I was over there! Probably because Henry was gone by the time I started visiting them, but I have never seen a single photograph of any child! Like no one wanted anyone to know that Henry even existed!”
Donald shrugged, “ach, I’m not surprised for a wealthy family to want to get rid of a sick kid.”
“Donald, let’s not make any assumptions now.” Duck said.
“Och! I’m just saying that Gordon’s family is famous and takes pride in their family, they want to look the best, and what better way of making your family look bad is to have a sick child.” Donald held his hands up, “of course that’s no reason to justify it, I would be bloody mad if my family were to treat me like that if I had a condition like Henry’s.” Donald paused and looked at the uneaten chips on Douglas’s plate, “are you going to eat those?”
Douglas gave Donald the rest of his chips.
Ryan ran his finger around the rim of his glass, “it’s weird, like I had never really met Henry, I’ve heard about him but never actually got to sit down and meet him.” Ryan clutched his hair, shaking his head, “I don’t know! I really don’t know.” He laughed, “I’m definitely going to call Grammy when I get home.”
Duck gave Ryan a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, “I’m sorry you had to find out this way.”
“No it’s fine, I guess I would’ve found out sooner or later… wow…”
The group had finished up their drinks, Ryan stayed silent during the rest of the night. None of them really felt up for a round of pool. The conversations they had just sucked the happy spirit straight from the air.
Oliver rested his head on the table sleepily, the alcohol was beginning to kick in, “does anyone know what time it is?”
Duck flipped open his pocket watch, “it’s almost half past nine.”
Oliver sat up with a groan and rubbed his face wearily, “I guess I better get going now, don’t want to keep Isabelle waiting for me. She gets anxious whenever I’m out.”
“We should Probably get going too.” Donald stretched and yawned, his brother was sleeping on his shoulder, Donald nudged him away, “Come on Dougie, let’s go home.”
“I’ll take care of Daisy’s bill.” Duck offered with a slight tone of disdain in his voice.
Donald chuckled, “wanna hear a joke? What did Duck say to the store clerk?”
“What?” Douglas rubbed his eyes.
“Just put it on my bill.” Donald pointed at Duck, “eh? Because of your name and Ducks have bills.”
Duck gave a light chuckle, “good one.” He finished paying the bill, Oliver handed him his crutches and Duck eased himself up onto them, “Ryan, do you want someone to walk you home? It’s pretty dark out and I don’t want anyone to mug you.”
“No, that’s alright, thank you for offering.” Ryan replied as he slipped his coat back on.
“Are you able to walk home too?” Donald asked Duck.
Duck swayed a bit, “actually, if it’s not much trouble…”
“Of course! Climb on.”
Donald hoisted Duck onto his back with ease. The group paid their bills, said their goodbyes for the night, and left the pub and into the night.